


The Court

by DevilDragon8, LadySongBird16



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Violence, Complicated Relationships, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Possibly Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-04 18:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 51,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17309762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevilDragon8/pseuds/DevilDragon8, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySongBird16/pseuds/LadySongBird16
Summary: Carly was part of the original Yugioh group and was present throughout Classic and 5D's took place right after Classic ended. The Crimson Dragon departs and so does Carly who leaves behind nothing but questions. No one thinks they will ever see her again until a new tournament is announced. A dark and shocking past comes to light as the two groups interact





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There are a few things that we want to explain about the fanfic so there will be no confusion. 5D’s took place right after Classic ended. The main Yugioh Classic characters were 17 when the series ended and the Yami/Dark characters never existed. That will be explained in the fanfic later and just imagine Carly in all the of the different Yugioh Classic seasons.  
> Disclaimer: We are only going to type this once, we do not own Yugioh or Yugioh 5D’s. We only own the situations and are using the characters for fun.

_NeoDomino City_

A young girl sat in the kitchen of her apartment. All of the photos and other memorabilia that usually hung on the walls and on the tables of the apartment had been removed. Letting out a long held in sigh she removed the glasses that she normally wore on a daily basis.

“It’s time,” she declared.

* * *

_Domino City_

Yugi Muto and his friends were hanging out at his grandpa’s game shop. At 18 he and his all of his friends: Joey Wheeler, Tristian Taylor, Tea Gardener and Duke Devlin were now high school graduates. Well, expect for Joey’s little sister Serenity, who was only 16 and Joey’s girlfriend Mai Valentine who was 25. The group was watching a Dungeon Dice Monsters Tournament on TV.

“Man Duke, your silly dice game really did turn out to be something,” Joey declared.

“Joey,” Mai warned smacking the back of his head.

“Joey, it’s been a little over a year since Industrial Illusions made my game a global game,” Duke confirmed. “Your ridiculous insults don’t work anymore.”

“Ah, you can’t blame a guy for trying,” Joey said rubbing his head.

Suddenly the phone in the game shop started ringing. Yugi got up to answer it.

“Hello, game shop,” he greeted.

“Yugi, it’s me, Carly,” a feminine voice declared.

“Carly, no way is it really you?” Yugi asked in excitement and disbelief.

Everyone else in the room turned to Yugi, their expressions ones of surprise. Many of them got up and gathered around Yugi.

“Yes Yugi, who else would it be?” Carly questioned.

Yugi hit a button and the phone was on speaker.

“Carly, you’re on speaker,” Yugi informed her. “Everyone else is here.”

“Hey Carly, long time no speak,” Joey said. “You remember me?”

“No, who the Hell are you?” Carly asked sarcastically.

“Oh come on, it’s me Joey,” Joey reminded her.

“She knows it’s you dofus,” Tristan said. “She was just being sarcastic.”

“Hey, you two better not start this,” Tea warned.

“Hey Tristan, hey Tea,” Carly said through the phone.

“What’s up Carly?” Mai questioned.

“Hi to you too Mai,” Carly replied.

"So Carly, what is it?” Yugi asked.

“It’s over,” Carly declared. “The Crimson Dragon is gone.”

“You’ve done all you needed to then,” Yugi declared. “You can come home now.”

“I’ll be there in a few hours then,” Carly said before hanging up the phone.

Yugi hung up the phone and looked at the others. “Well, she’s coming back,” Yugi confirmed.

“Do you think she told Kaiba?” Tea questioned.

“I don’t know,” Yugi stated. “We should probably call him to check.”

* * *

Carly put her bags in the compartments above her and took her seat just as the train to Domino city pulled out of the station. She couldn’t believe that she was going back there. It felt like so long. _Carly’s POV_ My name is Carly Carmine and I’m 18 years old. For a long time now people have always thought of me as a klutzy reporter and blogger who never succeeds in getting her stories published, and is also the girl who claims to be the #1 Jack Atlas fan. That doesn’t really matter so much anymore though, Jack left Neo Domino. What people don’t know is that a majority of my life had been spent in Domino City, and that I’m best friends with Yugi Muto, the famous “King of Games.” I grew up in Domino City with Yugi and the others and we went to school together. To tell you the truth, I’m even friends with the famous Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation. We’re all connected by time though, so it’s probably best that we all get along, or at least deal with each other anyway. Let’s face it, Seto and Joey will never be friends. In case anyone wonders what I mean by connected by time, let me explain. We’ve all been around for thousands of years; we die like other humans do, but every time we are reincarnated together in a new place, and eventually we remember the events of our past lives. Each of us plays a different role in the group, I am the Knight. That means that I protect everyone and make sure they stay alive, especially Yugi, because Yugi is the King, so I’m technically his bodyguard. Each of the different roles grant special abilities, but for some reason when I moved to New Domino City my abilities faltered. Ever since the Crimson Dragon disappeared they’ve been come back though. My visions even returned to normal; thank God, I’m so glad to be rid of those glasses, but they did serve an addition purpose. Since I’m friend with Yugi and was with him from Duelist Kingdom until the end of the Grand Championship, my face is inconspicuous and the bulky gasses hid most of my face. I also left my old deck behind. The Fortune Fairies served me well but I don’t need them anymore, I’m not the same person anymore. I have a new attitude and I get to be me again. That’s why it’s time to return to my old life, to my old friends, and even to him, I know he’s still there. _Normal POV_ Carly looked at the seats in front of her that she was gripping onto the whole time. Thank God no one was sitting in front of her or around her, because there were deep marks on top of the seats from her gripping them so tightly. It was official, her super strength was back.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” Carly muttered.

* * *

_Carly’s Apartment in New Domino_

There was a knocking on the front door followed by a voice.

“Carly, Carly are you home?” A feminine voice questioned.

The voice belonged to Mina Simington, former secretary to Rex Goodwin and Sector Security’s Chief of Special Investigations. After knocking on the door again Mina realized that the door was unlocked. She opened the door and entered the apartment to find that some of the furniture was gone, and the apartment looked very empty.

“Carly?” She called.

When she received no answer she looked around the apartment for any signs or clues as to where Carly could be. It wasn’t until she looked at the kitchen table that she found evidence. Sitting on top of the coffee table in the living room area was Carly’s glasses and her deck.


	2. Chapter 2

The train stopped at Domino station and Carly excited with her bags in hand. She looked around for a sign of the others. She finally found Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Tea waiting for her; only because she saw Tristan and Joey holding up a sign that said “The Knight.” She rolled her eyes, walked over to the group, and hit Tristan and Joey in the head.

“Seriously, that’s how you guys let me know you’re here?” Carly questioned.

“Yeah Carly, we missed you too,” Joey replied.

“It only seemed appropriate,” Tristan stated.

“Yeah sure it is,” Carly stated. “Do I go around calling you to the Spymaster and the Captain?”

“No, you don’t,” Joey confirmed.

“Exactly, so please don’t call me that,” Carly said.

“Come on Carly,” Yugi said taking her bags. “Let’s get your stuff to the Game Shop.”

* * *

A few minutes later they were at the Game Shop. The first person they were greeted by was Grandpa.

“Carly so great to see you,” He greeted. “It’s been so long.”

“It’s good to see you Mr. Muto,” Carly said giving the old man a hug. “Thank you, for letting me stay here at the Game Shop.”

“You’re quite welcome,” Grandpa said.

“Come on Carly, let me show you to your room,” Yugi stated. A

few minutes later after Carly put all her stuff up in her room, changed into an all-black outfit, and went back downstairs where she saw Serenity, Mai, and Joey. All of them were very happy to see her.

“Long time, no see Carly,” Mai said giving her hug.

“Good to see you Mai,” Carly stated.

“I hope you’ve been keeping Joey in line.”

“I’ve been trying to,” Mai replied.

“What’s up Carly?” Duke asked.

“Glad that Dungeon Dice Monsters worked out for you Duke,” Carly said giving him a hug.

“It’s so great to see you Carly,” Serenity said hugging Carly.

“You too Serenity,” Carly replied

“So what were you doing while you were in Neo Domino Carly?” Tea asked.

“I was under the guise of a reporter and a blogger,” Carly declared. “Now the blogging part wasn’t so bad, but being a reporter is not easy.”

“You never got any articles done did you?” Joey questioned.

“Shut up Joey,” was her only reply.

“I thought so,” Joey said.

"Well, now that we're all here, I think we have something to discuss," Yugi declared.

"We do?" Joey asked.

"The millennium items, what are we going to do with them?" Yugi asked.

"Well, we can't protect them much longer," Carly declared.

"Why don't you just return them to the people they were made for?" Serenity asked.

"It isn't that simple," Yugi declared.

"The previous wielders of the items live in all different parts of the world," Tea declared.

"Yeah, the Ishtars are in Egypt, Pegasus is in Duelist Kingdom..." Tristan declared.

"And we can't just simply go around the world and deliver them to the people," Carly stated. "Some of us are friends of well-known duelists, and Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba, and Mai are world famous duelists."

"People will recognize us too easily," Tristan declared.

"We need to get wielders of the items all in one place somehow," Mai declared. "How exactly do we do that though?" Joey asked.

“I have no idea, but a lot has happened today and I think that we should just think about it for a little while. It’s not like we need to move the Millennium Items right away. I still have something I need to take care of tonight so I’ll see you all later” Carly said.

When she was finally gone Tea spoke. “Where could she be going?”

“I have a pretty good idea,” Yugi replied.

* * *

_Kaiba Corp., Kaiba’s Office_

Seto Kaiba sat in his office going over statistics for something. Whatever it was it must have been for some important business thing. Otherwise why would Kaiba be paying attention to it? He was so focused on what he was doing that he didn’t even look up when he heard the door to his office. He probably thought it was only Mokuba.

“Even on a Saturday you insist on locking yourself in your office,” A familiar voice declared.

Kaiba looked up briefly to find it was Carly. After he saw it was her though he went right back to his work. “How did you get in here?”

“Nice to see you too,” Carly replied. “I broke in.”

“You broke in dressed like that?” Kaiba questioned. “What are you, a ninja?”

“I’m the Knight actually, remember?” Carly snarked.

“How could I forget,” Kaiba replied.

“I’ve been gone for over a year Seto,” Carly confirmed. “Not once, did I get a letter or a phone call from you.”

“In case you can’t see I’ve been busy Carly,” Kaiba declared.

“Do you ever leave this office?” Carly asked.

“Yes,” Kaiba replied.

“Yeah, for business meetings I bet,” Carly declared. “You probably sleep on that couch half the time.”

“I do not,” Kaiba declared.

“I’m sure the others were busy too Seto, but I got letters and phone calls from all of them,” Carly declared. “My own best friend can’t even take a few minutes to do one of the two? A lot of things happened to me in Neo Domino City. I died and became a dark signer, and I was basically forced to watch something that was not me take over my body and hurt other people.”

“Wait, you what?” Kaiba asked looking up from his work.

“You heard me,” Carly replied. “Why didn’t you call me and tell me that then?” Kaiba questioned.

“Like I could do that when I was dead Seto,” Carly replied.

“Well don’t die again,” Kaiba demanded.

“That’s not easy Seto,” Carly confirmed. “In case you forgot, my job is to make sure you all don’t die prematurely. Speaking of jobs by the way, have you heard anything from our boss?”

“No,” Kaiba stated. “I’m really mad now that he didn’t tell us you were dead.”

“Yeah, well you know how the boss gets,” Carly said. “I haven’t heard from the boss either. The only reason that I know coming back home was the right decision is that my abilities have started to come back.”

“Is that so” Kaiba replied.

“Yeah, on the train ride back I accidentally partly crushed one of the seats” Carly stated.

“What?” Kaiba asked.

“Yup, thankfully no one was around to see it happen though” she replied.

“That’s good, I wouldn’t want to have to bail you out of jail for the destruction of public property” he replied as he went back to his work.

“Please, it wouldn’t be the first time you have to bail me out of jail and it’s not like I did it on purpose. It’s just going to take a little time to get used to everything again” Carly said and at his skeptical look continued with “Oh, come on, if you lost your special abilities for a year and then got them back it would take you time too to get reused to them”. She was silent for a moment then questioned “What about him, have you heard anything from him or seen him lately?” “No I haven’t,” Kaiba answered.

* * *

_Neo Domino City_

Mina still couldn’t believe that Carly just disappeared. Where could she have gone to? She just came to her house to ask her about writing a blog for her about the latest happenings in Neo Domino, and she found her apartment completely empty. She had heard someone saying they saw her boarding a train, but they didn’t know where it was going to. As much as she hated admitting it, she knew Jack would probably want to know about this, but she had no idea where he was now, and she didn’t have his cell phone number. Yusei probably would though, better call him. So Mina pulled out her phone and dialed Yusei’s number.

“Hello,” Yusei’s voice said on the other ended, “

Yusei its Mina,” Mina said.

“Hi Mina, what’s up?” Yusei asked.

“You wouldn’t happen to have Jack’s number would you?” Mina questioned.

“Yeah, I do,” Yusei stated. “Why do you ask?”

“Carly Carmine’s disappeared,” Mina declared. “I went to her apartment to ask her a question but when I got there it was completely deserted. The only thing I found there was her glasses and her deck.”

“Did it look like somebody took her?” Yusei asked.

“No, there was no sign of a struggle,” Mina declared. “Somebody told me they saw her get on the train, but they didn’t know where it was going.”

“Sounds strange,” Yusei replied.

“Yeah, listen I really need to get some things done right now,” Mina declared. “So can you call Jack and pass on the information to him?”

“…Sure, I’ll do it right now,” Yusei replied.

“Thanks a lot Yusei,” Mina said.

“I owe you one, bye.”

With that said Mina hung up the phone.

* * *

_Yusei’s Lab_

Yusei dialed Jack’s number and waited as the phone rang.

“He’s not going to be happy about this,” Yusei stated.

“Hello?” Jack’s voice said.

“Jack, it’s Yusei,” Yusei replied.

“What do you want?” Jack asked.

“You know that girl Carly that you used to hang out with?” Yusei questioned.

“Yes, what about her?” Jack asked.

“She disappeared,” Yusei stated.

“What?” Jack’s voice asked in slight panic.

“Mina went to her apartment to ask her some questions and all her stuff was gone, expect for her glasses and her deck,” Yusei said.

“Did it look like she was kidnapped?” Jack questioned.

“No, Mina said there was no sign of a struggle,” Yusei declared. “Somebody told her that they saw Carly get on a train, but they didn’t know where it was going to.”

“I see,” Jack replied. “And no one knows where she could have gone?”

“No,” Yusei replied.

“Well, thanks for informing me Yusei,” Jack said before hanging up his phone.

* * *

_Kaiba Corp_

“So you know what we need to do right?” Carly asked. “Yes,” Kaiba replied. “How are we going to get it done?” Carly asked.

“We need to figure out a way to bring them all together in one place,” Kaiba declared. “I think a dueling tournament will probably help.”

“I believe you’re right,” Carly replied. “We can bring all of the world’s best duelists together too.”

“Yeah, just more people for me to beat,” Kaiba replied.

“Sure, that will boost your ego,” Carly declared.

“Why do I let you in here again?” Kaiba questioned.

“Because I’m your only friend,” Carly confirmed.

“…Right,” Kaiba said. “Anyway, this tournament will take a couple of months to put together though.”

“Alright, well since it’s getting late, I’ll head back to the Game Shop and run it by the others,” Carly declared. “I’ll see you around Seto.”

Just as Carly turned to leave the door to Seto’s office door opened.

“Carly,” A voice said happily. It was Mokuba who went. He immediately went over to Carly and hugged her.

“Hey squirt,” Carly greeted. “How are you; still getting kidnapped?”

“…Sometimes,” Mokuba replied.

“You really need to be taught how to defend yourself,” Carly declared.

“Tell that to Seto,” Mokuba replied. “By the way, does he ever leave this office?” Carly asked.

“Usually only for business meetings, he even sleeps on the couch so he doesn’t have to leave” Mokuba declared.

“Ha, I knew it,” Carly said looking at Kaiba. “Well listen, I’m going back to the Game Shop,” Carly stated. “Make sure he leaves this office tonight. If he doesn’t, call me.”

“Okay,” Mokuba replied.

* * *

_The Game Shop_

Yugi and the rest of the group were all sitting in the living room when Carly came back.

“Hey guys,” Carly greeted.

“How’d it go with Kaiba?” Tristan questioned.

“I think we came up with an idea to make our next job easier,” Carly declared.

“What is it?” Mai asked.

"We, or more accurately Kaiba, hold a tournament" Carly answered. 

“That’s brilliant, we can invite duelists from all over the world,” Yugi declared.

“Sounds like a pretty cool idea to me,” Joey declared.

“Alright then, let’s call Seto to tell him that we’re all cool with the idea,” Carly said pulling out her phone, dialing Kaiba’s phone and putting it on speaker.

“Kaiba,” the voice on the other end said.

“Seto, I told the others, and they all agree that the dueling tournament is a good idea,” Carly declared.

“There’s still something missing though,” Kaiba said. “Something has to make this tournament stand out from all the previous ones.”

“I have a suggestion,” Tea declared.

“What is it?” Yugi asked.

“What if all the participants have to be part of a team of three?” Tea suggested.

“I think I like that idea actually,” Joey declared.

“What do you think Seto?” Carly asked.

“I must admit, it’s a start,” Kaiba declared.

“Ok, we’re in agreement then,” Carly declared. “Talk to you later Seto.” Carly hung the phone.

“We have to tell him then, don’t we?” Joey whispered to Tristan.

“Yes we do,” Tristan replied.


	3. Chapter 3

_Two Months Later_

Yusei sat in his lab looking through some notes. It was a slow day today; all experiments suggestions were discussed earlier and tests weren’t to be run for at least another week. So he decided to head out early, just as he turned to leave he noticed a small slip of paper right next to the door. It was an invitation.

“The Kaiba Corp International Championship Tournament,” Yusei said reading the invitation. “This sounds interesting.”

* * *

Akiza walked back to her apartment after a long day at medical school. They had to study the brain today, and as interesting as it sounded, dissecting a human body is still not the most fun thing to do. The first thing she decided to do was to go and check her mail. When she got to the mail room and emptied her box, that’s when she noticed something strange. There was a rather fancy looking piece of parchment sitting in her mail box.

“What is this?” She said pulling out the postcard sized parchment. “A Kaiba Corp Tournament, wow!”

* * *

Crow Hogan was heading home from a local dueling tournament. It was nothing big of course, but when you’re a professional duelist it’s hard to not duel at all, and let’s face it, there were no big tournaments currently, and if there were any, they weren’t being advertised very well. When he finally made it to the door of his apartment he noticed a piece of paper partially under the door. He unlocked and opened his door and picked up the paper. It was an invitation. “It’s about time,” he said reading the text on the paper.

* * *

Leo and Luna were enjoying being back with their parents. Sure they hadn’t really had a good duel in a while, but they were really starting to see what it was like to go to school and be like “normal” teenagers. They missed the rest of the gang, but they weren’t signers anymore, so what else could they do?

Luna was currently sitting in her room and listening to music. “Luna, open up,” Leo said practically pounding on her door. Luna removed her earbuds and opened her door. “What is it Leo?” Luna questioned.

“You won’t believe what dad just found in the mailbox,” Leo said holding out a piece of paper. Luna read the text on the small piece of parchment.

“No way,” Luna said in amazement.

* * *

Jack Atlas was on a journey to become a better person and find his own path, but he couldn’t deny that he missed the times where he was King of Riding Duels. Things were rather slow and uneventful lately. Something exciting was bound the happen now that he received an invitation, and one for a Kaiba Corp Tournament. “This should be very interesting,” he declared.

* * *

_Two Weeks Later_

The signers, along with Mina, Misty, Kalin, Sherry, and Trudge were signing up for the Tournament at the Kaiba Dome in Domino City; it looked bigger than the one back in New Domino. Just as they were finishing filling out all the forms they could have sworn they heard a familiar voice nearby.

“I’m telling you Joey, we won’t get any service there, at this time of day it’s going to be completely packed” A feminine voice declared. The 5Ds gang turned around and they saw two blonde men and a girl with dark hair. They had a pretty good idea who it was.

“Carly?” Jack questioned. Carly, Yugi, and Joey stopped and looked at the 5Ds gang.

“Oh…hi everyone,” Carly greeted.

“What are you doing here?” Misty questioned.

“And what are you doing with Yugi Muto and Joey Wheeler?” Yusei added.

“We’re going to get some lunch,” Carly replied.

“How do you know two of the best ranking duelists in the world?” Luna asked.

“We went to school together,” Carly stated.

“Went to school together?” Leo questioned.

“Yes, I grew up in Domino City,” Carly declared.

“Why did you leave your glasses at your old apartment?” Mina asked.

“I didn’t need them anymore,” Carly stated. “My vision has improved immensely; and I was using them to hide my true face from others anyway.”

“Why were you trying to hide?” Jack asked.

“When you’re friends with top-ranking duelists, people tend to recognize your face,” Carly declared.

“So I suppose that you all are here to sign up for the tournament then?” Joey asked.

“Yes, not all of us though,” Luna stated.

“Yeah, Trudge, Misty, Mina, and Kalin are just here to watch,” Akiza stated.

“Trudge…that’s really you?” Yugi questioned.

“Uh, yeah, long time no see I guess,” Trudge said awkwardly.

“Don’t worry guys, he might have been the bully in the past, but he’s actually working to protect people now,” Carly confirmed.

“For real?” Joey questioned.

“Yes Joey, for real,” Carly replied.

“So are you three a team in the tournament?” Yusei asked.

“No, Yugi and Joey are on a team with Joey’s girlfriend, Mai Valentine,” Carly declared.

“Who are you teamed up with then Carly?” Luna asked.

“I’m afraid that is a secret,” Carly stated.

“Oh come on really?” Leo asked.

Suddenly there was a noise, and everyone turned to see that there was a large monitor on the front of the dome. And who’s face appeared, Kaiba, who else. He started talking about the tournament rules and how long it would be until the tournament actually started. The rules were that duelists had to be in teams of three. If not all of the team members are present when a dueling challenge is made, the team that is being challenged can say no. Duels and be singles or doubles and riding are allowed in certain areas of the city. The goal is to win eight locator cards, once eight have been won your team gets into the finals and the tournament itself begins in a week.

“Hey look Carly,” Joey said. “It’s something that finally matches the size of his ego.”

“Don’t be ridiculous Joey,” Carly stated. “His ego is way bigger than that.”

As soon as Kaiba’s image was gone from the screen, there was some awkward silence, only for a few seconds though.

“Well, we’re going to get some lunch now,” Carly declared.

“Why?” Trudge asked.

“We’re hungry,” Joey declared. “Why else would we get lunch?”

“I guess we’ll be seeing you all around, or at least in a week,” Yugi stated.

With that said the three duelists left.

* * *

_The Next Day_

The 5Ds gang had received an invitation to meet with Maximillian Pegasus the day before they came to Domino City, and they were curious as to why. Why would the creator of Duel Monsters want to see them? Well, at least Industrial Illusions had a headquarters in Domino City.

“Mr. Pegasus has been expecting all of you,” Croquet said leading them to a door with Pegasus’ name on it.

When they entered the office they were given a most enthusiastic greeting by none other than Pegasus himself. “Welcome, it’s so wonderful that finally meet all of you.”

“The honor is ours, it’s not every day that we get to meet the creator of Duel Monsters,” Jack declared.

“If I may ask though, why did you want to see us?” Yusei questioned.

“I have heard great things from New Domino about many of you,” Pegasus declared. “I had to take a look at all of you for real.”

“What do you know of us?” Akiza asked.

“Hey, Pegasus,” A voice yelled. Everyone turned to see Carly standing in the doorway with a small golden object in her hand.

“Carly girl, how wonderful to see you,” Pegasus greeted.

“Yes, likewise Pegasus,” Carly replied. “I’ve come to bring you a gift.”

“Oooh, a gift, what is it?” Pegasus asked.

“It’s your eye,” Carly declared.

“You have my eye, wonderful,” Pegasus stated.

“Wait, his eye?” Crow asked in shock.

“Relax, it’s not a real eye, sort of,” Carly declared. “As you know though Pegasus, I can’t just give this to you. You have to beat me at something. So can you think of something quickly please? I have more to hand out and I don’t really want to be running around playing delivery girl all day.”

“How about this, whoever draws the better circle wins,” Pegasus suggested.

“Ok, let’s get it over with,” Carly stated.

So Croquet brought each of them a piece of paper and a pencil, and once he said go, both Carly and Kaiba started drawing. When they were both done they compared circles and of course Pegasus won, and Carly gave him back the Millennium eye.

“Oh, how wonderful it is to have my eye back,” Pegasus declared.

“Yes, now if you excuse me I have more deliveries to make,” Carly said getting up to leave. “Oh, that reminds me, Kaiba and Yugi are having a competition tonight. So if you want to come and watch you’re more than welcome to. Kaiba would kill me if he knew I told you about it, but the two of them have been going at it for days now and it’s really getting boring. ”

“Oooh, Kaiba boy and Yugi boy having a competition, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Pegasus said. “Yeah, see you later then,” Carly said walking toward the door, but then she looked at the 5Ds Gang. “Be careful, now that he has the eye back, he can read your minds.”

With that Carly left.

* * *

_Two Hours Later_

The 5Ds gang made their way to Kaiba Corp. They needed to talk to Kaiba himself to ask him some questions. Security didn’t seem to want to let them in, but after one of them made a call to Kaiba himself they were allowed entrance to Kaiba’s office. When they were let in they saw Carly sitting on the couch in the corner with a remote in her hand.

“Carly, what are you doing here?” Jack asked.

“I’m watching TV,” Carly confirmed.

“How did you get in here?” Akiza asked.

“I walked in the front door,” Carly stated.

“The guards just let you in?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, if they didn’t Seto would be very upset,” Carly said. “Wouldn’t you Seto?”

“Yes, I’d probably fire them,” Kaiba said not looking up from his computer.

Carly continued flipping through the channels. She stopped when she saw Kaiba talking about the upcoming tournament on the news.

“Oh, look Seto, you’re favorite thing is on TV, you,” Carly snarked.

Kaiba through a pencil at her but she dodged it. Kaiba gave her a glare. “What did you not want me to dodge that?” Carly asked. She only received a glare in response. “Sorry, next time I won’t dodge it,” Carly declared.

“You know you probably shouldn’t be snarking at me,” Kaiba said.

“Why?” Carly questioned.

“Because I’m your only friend,” Kaiba stated.

“No you're not Seto,” Carly declared. “I’m friends with the others. I’m _your_ only friend.” “…Right,” Kaiba replied. “Don’t you have a job to do?”

“I already did it,” Carly declared. “Do you want me to leave?”

“No,” Kaiba replied.

“Maybe I should leave anyway,” Carly said.

This time Kaiba grabbed the tape on the desk and threw it at her, only this time she caught it.

“What, I said I wouldn’t dodge it,” Carly confirmed when Kaiba glared at her again.

“Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you,” Kaiba said.


	4. Chapter 4

The 5Ds gang was still in Kaiba’s office and they were just listening to Kaiba and Carly snark at each other. Were these two for real?

“Um, excuse me?” Akiza said over the awkward silence.

“We’re still here,” Mina confirmed.

“Right and I’m assuming there’s a reason you all came here?” Carly asked.

“Yes, we came here because we had some questions we thought Kaiba could answer,” Crow stated.

“Well, what are they then?” Kaiba asked.

“We wanted to know what specific areas riding duels were allowed in, since half of us will probably choose to do riding duels,” Yusei declared.

“I’ll just have one of my guards give you all a map before you all leave,” Kaiba stated.

Jack was about to ask a question when the door to Kaiba’s office, and Mokuba entered.

“Seto, I’m going out for a while,” he said.

“Carly, would you keep an eye on him,” Kaiba stated. “I don’t need him getting kidnapped again.”

“Right, like that doesn’t happen enough,” Carly said. She and Mokuba turned to leave until she stopped and turned back to Kaiba. “Don’t forget, we’re meeting in the park at seven for your little competition against Yugi.”

“Yes, I know,” Kaiba replied. “Do you want to grab a quick dinner with Mokuba and me before hand?”

“Sweet,” Mokuba said.

“Yes, sure, that would be cool,” Carly replied.

Once both she and Mokuba left the 5Ds gang looked at Kaiba again.

“Why was she here exactly?” Jack asked.

“She was hanging out,” Kaiba replied getting up from his desk. “Look, I know you all know Carly. The only reason I let you in is because she asked me to. There’s something I need to make clear; Carly was in Neo Domino because she had a job to do. That job is done now, and she’s home. She’s not the same person that you thought she was. Things are going to go back to normal and you need to accept that.”

* * *

 

_Later, the Park_

Everyone gathered in the park for Kaiba and Yugi’s duel. The 5Ds gang had decided to come and watch since they had already heard about it twice. The only problem at the moment was Kaiba and Carly weren’t there yet.

“Kaiba better not have backed out,” Joey declared.

“Why would he Joey, this competition was decided so he could win and we could all move on,” Tristan said.

Suddenly Kaiba’s limo pulled up to the park, and out stepped Carly, Kaiba, and Mokuba munching on onigiri.

“Where have you guys been?” Tea questioned.

“We were getting dinner,” Carly replied.

“Why?” Joey asked.

“We were hungry,” Carly stated.

“Can we hurry up and get this over with,” Joey requested. 

Suddenly another pulled up and out stepped Pegasus. No one besides Carly and the 5Ds gang was expecting him, so everyone else was in shock.

“Hello everyone, it’s so fabulous to see you all,” Pegasus greeted.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Kaiba asked.

“You’re lovely friend invited me,” Pegasus stated.

“Carly!” Kaiba yelled looking at said knight.

“What?” Carly asked.

“Did you invite him?” Kaiba asked.

“Yes,” Carly replied.

“Why would you do that?” Kaiba questioned.

“I thought he would want to come and watch,” Carly declared.

“What’s wrong Kaiba boy, embarrassed because Yugi boy always beat you at a card game and you have to play chess to beat him at something?” Pegasus questioned.

“Shut up Pegasus,” Kaiba said.

“What was the last competition like anyway?” Leo questioned.

“It was rock, paper, scissors,” Duke said. “I went on for two hours.”

“How can rock, paper, scissors go on for two hours?” Luna asked.

“Either Yugi kept winning, or it was a draw all the time,” Carly stated. “I got bored and ended up knocking them both out.”

“Knocking them out, with what?” Trudge questioned.

“A wrench,” Carly replied.

“A wrench, you knocked two men out with a wrench?” Misty asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Carly replied.

“Did you bring the wrench with you?” Joey asked.

“Yup, it’s right here,” Carly said holding up a wrench in her left hand.

The 5Ds gang just looked absolutely shocked.

“Where were you hiding that?” Crow asked.

Carly just ignored the question.

“Can we just start this game already?” Yugi asked.

“Alright, you two can start,” Carly stated.

“Careful Yugi boy wouldn’t want to beat Kaiba boy again,” Pegasus said.

“Pegasus, please shut up,” Carly said.

“I’d listen, she has a weapon after all,” Tristan confirmed.

So time went by and it looked like Kaiba hand the upper hand. After a few more turns it was over, Kaiba won.

“Well, I never thought it would happen, but Kaiba actually beat Yugi at something,” Joey confirmed.

“Shut up Wheeler,” Kaiba said.

“Yes, this truly is a shock,” Pegasus stated.

Kaiba just gave the older man a deathly glare.

“Well, know Kaiba gets the Millennium Rod,” Tristan confirmed.

“The what?” Yusei questioned.

“That gold rod that’s lying on the table,” Carly stated. “I’d explain what it does, but I really don’t feel like it.”

“Carly, are you ready?” Yugi suddenly asked.

“Yeah, I’m coming, bye everyone” Carly said walking over to Yugi.

The two began to walk away from the large group.

“Wait, where are you two going?” Mina asked.

“We’re going home,” Carly declared.

“You two live at the same place?” Akiza questioned.

“Yeah, she lives at the Game Shop with Yugi and his grandpa,” Tea stated.

“She does?” Leo asked.

“Yes, she does,” Tristan confirmed.

* * *

 

_Two Days later_

It was a Saturday today, and Crow, Trudge, Kalin, Mina, Leo, and Luna decided to go out and explore Domino City. It seemed a bit smaller than Neo Domino, but it still seemed a pretty nice city. And it was one of the first places that Duel Monsters was played, so it was pretty cool to be here. Sure Trudge had told them some things about it, but not a lot.

They heard a noise and noticed who was ahead of them.

Carly, Tea, Mai, and Serenity were talking with each other, Mai, Serenity, and Tea, all had multiple bags in their hands.

“Hey girls,” Mina said catching said group’s attention.

“Oh, hey guys,” Carly greeted. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing, we were just checking out the city,” Crow stated.  “Where are you all coming from?”

“The mall,” Mai replied.

“Carly, you didn’t get anything?” Mina questioned.

“They didn’t have anything I like,” Carly stated.

“You really have become too much of a tomboy,” Mai stated.

“So what?” Carly asked.

“You’re hanging out with all the girls today Carly?” Leo asked.

“Yeah, I was getting tired of hanging out with all the boys,” Carly declared.

“Didn’t you say you tried calling Kaiba today?” Serenity asked.

“Yeah, but when he answered he was acting all strange,” Carly declared. “Then he just hung up on me, just like that.”

“That is weird,” Tea said.

“So why do you think Kaiba hung up on you?” Mai asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” Carly stated. “By the way, in case you guys don’t know who everyone is by now, this is Serenity, Joey’s younger sister.”

“Hi there,” Serenity said to the 5Ds members.

“This is Tea, Yugi’s girlfriend,” Carly went on.

“Really Carly, that’s how you introduce me?” Tea questioned.

“And last but not least this is Mai, Joey’s girlfriend,” Carly stated.

“Hey,” Mai greeted.

“This is Crow, Trudge, Kalin, Mina, and of course the twins Leo and Luna,” Carly said introducing the 5Ds group. “I figured we should all know each other by name since we’ll probably being see a lot of each other.”

“So do you guys know where one of the best places to hang out is?” Luna asked.

“Well, there is the arcade,” Tea suggested. “If you keep going this way you should find it on your left.”

“Awesome, can we do check it out?” Leo asked looking at the rest of the group.

“Yeah, can we?” Luna asked.

“Why not, it could be cool?” Crow said looking at the rest of the group.

“Alright, but let’s not be long,” Mina said.

“Well, I guess we’ll be seeing you all around,” Trudge said.

So the 5Ds group went on ahead, though they were still close enough to hear the conversation that was just beginning.

As the girls started walking away Mai decided to question Carly about something.

“You’ve been really quite all day, any specific reason why?”

“No, I just have nothing to say” Carly answered.

“You really do miss him don’t you?” Mai asked.

“No, I don’t miss him at all,” Carly stated. “Why would I, he’s a jerk.” After she said that Carly started blushing

“Carly…” Tea began.

“Tea, just drop it,” Carly said and now she was looking sad instead of embarrassed.

“You so miss him, there is no denying it” Mai exclaimed and before Carly could reply Mai started running down the street shouting over and over “Carly misses him, Carly misses him”.

Carly was stunned for a few seconds then with the blush firmly back on her face, ran after Mai.

“You know I didn’t hear her deny anything that time” Tea said, with a sweat drop, while watching Carly give chase.

“Neither did I, but you might not want to mention that to Carly. Come on we better follow them, Carly is supposed to protect everyone not be the cause of the harm.” Serenity said with her own sweat drop as the two started to follow Mai and Carly down the street.

Carly had already caught up to Mai and with the blush still covering her face and was yelling something at her. Tea and Serenity were just happy the Carly had not bought anything yet. If she had then she would have been hitting Mai with whatever she had gotten by now.


	5. Chapter 5

_A few days later_

It was finally the day before Kaiba’s tournament, and the gang had decided to go out and have some fun. So at about seven they all agreed to meet at a popular restaurant/arcade place in Domino City. In addition to themselves, they had also invited the 5Ds gang. They also invited Mako, and the Ishtars, who had all come to Domino for the tournament.

Yugi, Joey, Carly, Tristan, Tea, and Mai were the first ones to show up. Followed by the 5Ds gang, and Kaiba and Mokuba, only Kaiba didn’t seem too happy to be there, Mokuba practically had to drag him inside.

“Come on Seto, stop being so stubborn,” Mokuba said. “You’re 18, live a little.”

Carly made eye contact with Kaiba for a few seconds before looking away.

After that Mako showed up.

“Hey Mako, good to see you buddy,” Joey greeted the fisherman.

“Good to see all of you as well,” Mako said.

“How have things been?” Yugi questioned.

“Things are great,” Mako stated. “I spend a lot of time out on my boat sailing around.”

“You came back here for the tournament though?” Carly questioned some bitterness present in her voice.

“Yes, how could I turn down a great opportunity?” Mako replied.

Mina, who was standing right next to Carly, noticed something strange.

“Are you okay Carly?” Mina whispered.

“Yeah, why?” Carly asked.

“You don’t seem to like him very much,” Mina declared. “Yugi and the others seem to like him though.”

“Look, when we were in Duelist Kingdom, he threw a harpoon at us to keep us from leaving,” Carly said. “It almost hit Yugi.”

“And you didn’t take that lightly,” Mina implied.

“No, I did not,” Carly declared.

The last group to show up was the Ishtars.

“Hey everyone,” Marik greeted.

“Good to see you all,” Ishizu added.

“We’re glad you all could make it,” Yugi said.

“How are things in Egypt?” Tea asked.

“Things are quite well,” Ishizu replied.

“Yeah, it’s good to finally get out into the world and be in the sun,” Marik declared.

With everyone finally present they sat down and ordered their food. Things were really quite at first, especially since Kaiba was sitting next to Carly, and she was still very pissed at him for ignoring her the past few days.

“You dweebs invited a lot of people,” Kaiba commented.

“Just because you avoid being around people doesn’t mean that everyone else does. Besides you should be thankful that I didn’t invite Pegasus,” Carly replied.

“You would do that just to annoy me, wouldn’t you,” Kaiba accused.

“Yes, yes I would, but I didn’t this time,” Carly admitted.

“So I’m assuming that you all are in the tournament as well?” Mina said looking at the Ishtars.

“Yes, we are all on the same team,” Ishizu confirmed.

“Speaking of tournament,” Yusei said. “Carly do you have another deck?”

“Yeah, you did leave your old one behind at your apartment,” Mina confirmed.

“Oh crap, you’re right,” Carly suddenly realized. “How can I duel without a deck? I mean I didn’t even want my old deck anymore, but now I’m deckless.”

“Carly, you do have a deck,” Kaiba suddenly said.

Carly looked at him and saw that he was holding a deck of cards.

“Is this for me?” Carly asked.

Kaiba nodded.

“You made me a deck?” Carly said taking the deck from Kaiba’s hand. “Is this why you’ve been avoiding me?”

“Yes, it actually is,” Kaiba replied.

“Wow, thanks Seto,” Carly said. “This means a lot.”

“Well, couldn’t let one of my teammates duel without a deck now could I?” Kaiba said.

“Wait, Carly you’re on Kaiba’s team?” Akiza questioned.

“Yes, I am,” Carly confirmed.

“Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?” Trudge questioned.

“If I told you then you guys would have just bombarded me with questions,” Carly declared.

“That’s mean, we would not,” Mina stated.

Carly just gave everyone a glare.

“Ok, maybe we would,” Mina admitted.

* * *

 

After the group ate their food they decided to hang out in the arcade area. Tea was excelling at Dance Dance Revolution as always, and Joey and Tristan were competing against each other in a racing game. Everyone else was scattered about the arcade, although Kaiba and Carly seemed to be doing a lot of things together. This of course did not go unnoticed by Jack. As soon as he saw Kaiba step away from Carly Jack went right up to her to confront her.

“Carly,” Jack said.

“What do you want Jack?” Carly asked.

“I want to know what’s gotten into you,” Jack declared.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Carly replied.

“This new attitude and everything, it’s not like you,” Jack said.

“That’s just it Jack,” Carly said. “The me you’re thinking about is the old me, the temporary me.”  
“What do you mean the temporary you?” Jack questioned.

“Why do you even care Jack?” Carly asked. “You made it clear before you left Neo Domino that you didn’t like me, that you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Carly, I…” Jack began.

“No, don’t say anything,” Carly said.  “I’m finally home and I’m the real Carly again; and that’s how I want it to be. So don’t you dare say something and think that it will change how things are now and how they will be.”

Soon Kaiba was coming back with a bag of tokens. Jack had no other option but to walk away.

“What was that all about?” Kaiba asked.

“It was nothing,” Carly replied.

Kaiba just gave her a look.

“It’s nothing Seto, really,” Carly declared.

So the two of them continued to play a lot of things together, they even played a few games with Mokuba. Kaiba seemed determined to get the high score at every game he played.

After about two hours or so Kaiba couldn’t help but notice that Jack was stealing glances at Carly every few minutes, and he was starting to get suspicious.

“Seto, I’m going to go play Fruit Ninja with Yugi,” Carly said before walking in the other direction.

“Ok,” Kaiba replied.

As soon as she was completely out of sight he approached the former King of Riding Duels and practically shoved him against one of the machines.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jack asked in shock.

“Listen here and listen well Atlas,” Kaiba said.  “I know what you’re trying to do to Carly, and I’m give you a warning now to stop.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jack replied.

“She told me everything that happened in Neo Domino, and that includes the Dark Singer parts,” Kaiba stated. “The last thing Carly needs right now is for someone to go around messing with her feelings. So if you know what’s best for you and what’s best for Carly you’ll back off.”

With that said Kaiba walked away, leaving Jack very confused.

_An hour later_

“Hey Seto,” Carly said coming back from her game with Yugi. “Yugi and I are going home now.”

“Alright, drive safely then,” Kaiba replied.

“Drive, you two drove here?” Leo asked.

“Yes, on my duel runner,” Carly stated.

“You have a duel runner?”  Akiza questioned.

“Yes, it’s a prototype I’m testing out for Kaiba,” Carly declared.

Everyone looked at Kaiba. “She’s telling the truth. I needed somebody to test it out, and her old duel runner was falling apart, so I gave it to her to test out. Once she starts dueling with it the duel runner will get lots of good publicity.”

“Yes, I ask my friends to do one thing while I’m gone,” Carly said. “Take care of my duel runner, and they can’t even do that.”

“Hey, we tried,” Tristan defended.

“Yeah, well you failed,” Carly replied.

“I know,” Tristan said lowering his head.

“Anyway, this makes my team more versatile now,” Kaiba stated.

“Yes, because versatility is important to you Seto,” Carly said.

“Can we see it?” Kalin asked.

“Alright, but only two of you can see it, Yugi and I need to get going and if too many of you come we’ll never get out of here” Carly stated.

So Crow and Kalin practically sprinted through everyone and followed Carly and Yugi.

_Five minutes later_

Crow and Kalin came back and they looked very happy.

“That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Kalin said.

“I’ll say,” Crow added. “Yusei you should have seen that duel runner.”

“So you guys know that me, Mai and Yuge are on a team and that Carly and Kaiba are on another team, but what about you guys?” Joey questioned.

“I’m on a team with Jack and Crow and Yusei is on a team with Leo and Luna” Akiza answered.

* * *

 

_The Next Day_

It was the first day of the Kaiba Corp tournament. The gang was walking around the city. Yugi, Joey and Mai weren’t really looking for someone to duel at the moment. They knew they each needed to win eight locator cards to make it to the semi-finals, but they had a lot of confidence that they could all get them.

Yugi, Joey, Mai, Duke, and Serenity were wearing their outfit from Battle City. Tristan was wearing his first outfit from Battle City (the one with the red jacket). Tea was wearing her outfit from the virtual world.

“Hey,” a random voice said behind the group.

They turned to see a young boy, probably around 16 or 17 with green hair and brown eyes concealed by glasses, wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers standing behind them. There was a duel disk on his right arm, which could only mean that he was in the tournament as well.

“Are you Yugi Muto?”  He asked looking at Yugi.

“Yes, I am,” Yugi stated. “Can I help you with something?”

“Yes, my name is Kyle, and I challenge you to a duel,” the boy said.

“Well, all the members of my team are here,” Yugi confirmed looking at his friends. “So I can’t really refuse.”

“Go on Yuge,” Joey said.

“Yeah Yugi, I think the King of Games could take on this kid,” Mai declared.

“Alright then, I accept,” Yugi said activating his duel disk

“Let’s duel.”

“I’ll start by summoning Giant Rat in attack mode,” the Kyle said.

**Giant Rat Attack: 1400**

“Next I’ll summon Moja in defense mode and end my turn,” Kyle said.

**Moja Defense: 100**

“My move,” Yugi said drawing a card. “I play Beta the Magnet Warrior in attack mode.”

**Beta the Magnet Warrior Attack: 1700**

“Now Beta, attack his giant rat,” Yugi said.

**Yugi: 4000**

**Kyle: 3700**

“You’re move,” Yugi said.

“Well, thanks to my rat’s special effect I can now summon an Earth monster with 1500 attack points or less,” Kyle said drawing a card from his deck. “I choose this one, Super-Nimble Mega Hamster.”

**Super-Nimble Mega Hamster Attack: 1110**

Then I’ll place on card face-down,” Kyle said. “You’re move Yugi.”

“I summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts in attack mode,” Yugi declared.

**Archfiend of Gilfer Attack: 1500**

“Gazelle, attack his hamster,” Yugi said.

“You’ve fallen right into my trap,” Kyle stated. “I activate Berserking.”

“What!” Yugi questioned.

“Oh no, Yugi,” Serenity said.

“It allows me to choose to beast monsters on the field,” Kyle stated. “So I choose my hamster and you’re Gazelle. Now your Gazelle loses half of its attack strength and my hamster gains all that attack strength.

**Gazelle Attack: 750**

**Super-Nimble Mega Hamster Attack: 1850**

It was too late for Yugi to attack so he watched as his Gazelle was destroyed.

**Yugi: 2900**

**Kyle: 3700**

“I place one card face down and end my turn,” Yugi said.

“My move, and summon my Rescue Cat,” Kyle said.

**Rescue Cat Attack: 300**

“Why would he play a card that weak?” Joey questioned.

“He must have some sort of trick up his sleeve,” Duke stated.

“And with that on the field I can synchro summon this, X-Saber Airbellum in attack mode.”

**X-Saber Airbellum Attack: 1600**

“Now with I can activate his special ability,” Kyle said. By forcing you to discard one card from your hand to X-Saber can now attack you directly.”

Just as the beast was about to charge at Yugi, he activated his face down card.

“Sorry Kyle, but you’ve activated my trap card, Mirror Force,” Yugi said.  “Now all your X-Saber is going to be destroyed by his own attack.”

**Yugi: 2700**

**Kyle: 2100**

_Meanwhile Somewhere in Kaiba Corp_

Kaiba, Carly, and Mokuba were in one of Kaiba Corp’s tech rooms watching the duels taking place in Domino city being monitored by the Kaiba Corp satellites.

Kaiba was wearing his outfit from Duelist Kingdom. 

Carly was wearing a dark green camouflage vest, a black t-shirt, gray jean shorts, and black sneakers. Her hair has also grown a lot longer over the past few months.

Mokuba was wearing his outfit from Battle City.

“How appropriate, Yugi is competing in the first duel of my tournament, again,” Kaiba stated.

“Seto, why are we watching today?” Carly asked.

“So we can see what losers we’re up against,” Kaiba replied.

“That’s low,” Carly stated.

“You know we’re going to beat most of them anyway,” Kaiba declared. “Come on; let’s go check out Yugi’s duel.”

* * *

 

“I end my turn,” Kyle said.

Yugi drew his next card and looked at it. From the look of his face it looked he had drawn just the card he needed.

“I summon one of my favorite cards, the Dark Magician,” Yugi said.

**Dark Magician Attack: 2500**

“That’s Yugi’s best card,” Mai confirmed.

“Now say goodbye to your Moja. Dark Magician, attack his monster now.”

“I’ll also place two cards face down, ending my turn.”

“Alright, now I can activate my Moja’s special ability,” Kyle said. “With him gone I can summon one level four monster from my graveyard, and I choose, Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, I’ll also play this, Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest, in attack mode.

**Green Baboon Attack: 2600**

“That looks like one angry ape,” Tristian stated.

“It’s a real ugly ape though,” Mai added.

“You should know what’s next Yugi,” Kyle said. “Say goodbye to your Dark Magician, Green Baboon attack.”

“Oh no, his baboon’s got more attack power than the Dark Magician,” Joey confirmed.

“I activate Magical Hats,” Yugi said revealing his magic card. “Now my Dark Magician and my other face-down card are concealed.”

“Alright Yugi,” Tea said.

The baboon ended up destroying one of the middle hats, but the Dark Magician was not there.

“You can try to find my Dark Magician but I also have a face-down card under my hat,” Yugi confirmed.

“I end my turn,” Kyle said.

“I activate my magic card, Brian Control, at the cost of 800 life points, I can take control of one of your monsters,” Yugi confirmed.

“No!” Kyle exclaimed.

“So say goodbye to your Green Baboon,” Yugi said. “Now with your baboon on my side of the field you’re open for a direct attack. Go Dark Magician, dark magic attack!”

**Yugi: 1900**

**Kyle: 0**

“Alright, Yugi did it!” Tristian exclaimed.

“I can’t believe I lost,” Kyle said. “Here, since you won, the rules say you get my locator card.”

“You’re a pretty good duelist Kyle,” Yugi said extending his hand out. “Good match.”

“Thanks Yugi,” Kyle said shaking his hand. “I can see now why you’re the King of Games.”

* * *

 

After Yugi won the duel the gang headed toward the city plaza. They agreed to meet the 5Ds gang there at noon so they could show they could all meet up for lunch. They thought it would be a good opportunity to get to know them, since they really didn’t learn much last night. Carly liked them so Yugi and the others wanted to get to know them too.

“Hey guys,” Yusei greeted. “Win any duels yet?”

“Yeah, actually, Yugi just won his first locator card,” Joey confirmed.

“”Really, that’s so cool,” Leo said.

“So have any of you been challenged yet?” Teas asked.

“No, we all have yet to be challenged,” Akiza replied.

“You guys don’t really look like you’re seeking anyone out though,” Tristan stated.

“We don’t really see a need to do that yet,” Jack replied.

“Hey,” A voice called behind the group.

Everyone turned to see a blonde boy, probably around Leo and Luna’s age, he had green eyes, and was wearing a blue t-shirt, red knee shorts, and white sneakers.

“Can we help you with something?” Yusei asked.

“Yes, I’m Alex, and I challenge you to a duel Yusei Fudo,” the boy said.

“You want to duel me?” Yusei questioned.

“You heard me,” Alex said.

“Go for it Yusei,” Luna said.

“Yeah, you can beat this guy no problem,” Leo added.

“Alright, Alex, I accept your challenge,” Yusei said.

Both duelists activated their disks.

“Let’s duel.”

“Well, this should be interesting,” Jack said.

“I’ll start things off by playing my Black Stego in attack mode,” Alex said.

**Black Stego Attack: 1200**

“Your move Yusei,” Alex said.

“I summon my Speed Warrior in attack mode,” Yusei said.

**Speed Warrior Attack: 900**

“And thanks to its special ability I can double its attack power until the end of the battle phase.”

**Speed Warrior Attack: 1800**

“Go Speed Warrior, attack his Stego,” Yusei commanded.

“I’m afraid you activated my Stego’s special ability Yusei,” Alex said.

“What?” Yusei questioned.

“If my stego is about to fall victim to one of my opponent’s attacks I can switch it into defense mode,” Alex said.

**Black Stego Defense: 2000**

“Now it’s too strong for your warrior’s attack and your warrior is destroyed,” Alex stated.

**Yusei: 3800**

**Alex: 4000**

“I’ll place one card face-down and then I’ll summon Junk Synchron is attack mode,” Yusei said. “Thanks to his special ability I can bring back Speed Warrior in defense mode.

**Junk Synchron: 1300**

**Speed Warrior Defense: 400**

“I end my turn,” Yusei said.

“My turn and I summon Sabersaurus in attack mode.

**Sabersaurus Attack: 1900**

“So say good bye to your Junk Synchron.”

“Thank you for destroying my Junk Synchron Alex, now I can play this, Junk Barrage,” Yusei stated. “It allows me to deal damage equal to half of my monster’s attack points to your life points.”

“Wow, that was a pretty good strategy actually,” Akiza declared.

“Yusei still has fewer life points then this kid though,” Jack confirmed.

**Yusei: 3200**

**Alex: 3350**

“I end my turn,”

“I summon my sonic chick in defense mode,” Yusei said.

**Sonic Chick Defense: 300**

“Why would Yusei summon a monster that weak?” Joey asked.

“It has to have some kind of special effect,” Kalin stated. “Otherwise Yusei wouldn’t play it for nothing.”

“You must really want to lose this duel Yusei, because my Sabersaurus is going to wipe out your chick,” Alex stated.

“Not so fast Alex, my sonic chick has a special ability,” Yusei stated.

“A special ability?” Alex questioned.

“Yes, you see it can’t be destroyed by any monster with 1900 attack points or higher,” Yusei said. “So your Sabersaurus’ attack is no good. Next I’ll summon my Quillbolt Hedgehog in defense mood.

**Quillbolt Hedgehog Defense: 800**

“Then I’ll use Monster Reborn to bring back my Junk Synchron,” Yusei said. “All my monsters won’t be here for long though. I’m going to use them to synchro summon the Junk Warrior in attack mode.”

**Junk Warrior Attack: 2600**

“Synchro summon, what the heck is that?” Joey asked.

“We’ll explain later,” Akiza replied.

“Now Junk Warrior attack his Sabersaurus,” Yusei said.

**Yusei: 3200**

**Alex: 2850**

“I switch Junk Warrior to defense mode and end my turn,” Yusei said. “Your move Alex.”

“I’ll play Destroyersaurus in attack mode,” Alex said.

**Destroyersaurus Attack: 1800**

“What’s wrong kid?” Tristan asked. “Are you running out of moves?”

“I think I’ll play the one card face down,” Yusei said.

“I hope Yusei’s got a move that will end this duel,” Trudge said.

“Me too, I’m getting hungry,” Joey complained.

“Joey, do you think of anything else besides food?” Tea questioned.

“Yeah, I think of Duel Monsters,” Joey replied.

Tea just rolled her eyes.

“Hey Yugi, random question, where’s Carly right now?” Mina asked.

“She took off early this morning,” Yugi replied. “She said Kaiba needed her to do something.”

“When doesn’t Kaiba need her to do something?” Mai said.

“Did you get a look at her new deck?” Crow asked.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Yugi said.

“Really that’s all you have to say about it?” Luna asked.

“Yeah what kind of cards are in it?” Leo questioned.

“I’m afraid you two will just have to wait and see,” Yugi replied.

“Oh, come on,” Leo complained.

“I’m afraid this duel is about to end Alex,” Yusei said. “First I’ll destroy your Black Stego with my junk warrior. Then I’ll activate my Synchro Ring card. Since I didn’t destroy your Destroyasaurus this turn I can use this ring to double my Junk Warrior’s attack points.”

**Junk Warrior: 5200**

“Go Junk Warrior, destroy his Destroyasaurus,” Yusei said.

**Yusei: 3200**

**Alex: 0**

“Alright!” Leo exclaimed.

“Way to go Yusei,” Akiza said.

“I can’t believe I lost,” Alex said.

“Hey don’t be too hard on yourself kid,” Yusei said. “You dueled very well. Plus for a few turns there you were actually ahead of me.”

“I suppose your right,” Alex said. “Thanks for dueling me Yusei, now I know you are all of what they say.”

“I hope they’re all good things,” Yusei joked shaking Alex’s hand.

Alex gave Yusei his locator card and went off.

“That was really impressive Yusei,” Yugi said.

“Yeah, great job,” Joey said.

“Thanks, that means a lot coming from two top-ranking duelists,” Yusei stated.

“Well, well, it looks like you dweebs have won your first duels,” a familiar voice said.

Approaching the group was Kaiba and Carly and Mokuba followed not too far behind.

“You got lucky this time, but don’t think you’ll be winning this tournament,” Kaiba said before walking away.

“Hey Seto wait up,” Mokuba said following his brother.

“Sorry about that, Seto’s a douchebag. Great duels by the way,” Carly said before leaving to catch up with Kaiba.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duels are not easy to write, so please bare with us, though ours will not be as long as those featured on the shows


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The format of the duel in this chapter is a bit different from what was done in the previous chapter

Carly and Kaiba went back to Kaiba Corp headquarters to drop off Mokuba. It would be a shame if he got kidnapped again.

“Why do I have to stay here though?” Mokuba complained.

“Somebody’s got to stay here and monitor all the duels Mokuba,” Kaiba stated.

“Yeah, you stay here and do that and Seto and I will go out and monitor duels,” Carly said.

“And contact us if anything unusual happens,” Seto stated.

With that Kaiba and Carly went back out.

“Alright, so what are we doing today?” Carly asked.

“We’re going to walk around and scope out the competition,” Kaiba replied.

“It’s boring just walking around and observing though,” Carly complained.  “I thought you’d want to start dueling.”

“Why, you know we’re going to beat half of these people anyway,” Kaiba declared.

“Yeah, but you’re always raring to duel someone,” Carly said.

“I don’t want to rush the crushing,” Kaiba replied.

“Right,” Carly said. “So, what were you saying to Jack last night?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kaiba replied.

“You pushed him against one of the games Seto,” Carly confirmed. “I saw it.”

“It’d rather not talk about it Carly,” Kaiba declared.

 “Why?” Carly asked.

“Drop it,” Kaiba replied.

“Please, I’ll be your best friend,” Carly said.

“You’re already my best friend,” Kaiba confirmed.

“Oh, right, I’ve got nothing then,” Carly stated.

* * *

 

_Elsewhere in Domino_

Everyone was finishing their lunch at the diner and now they were pretty much just hanging out and talking.

“So are you guys going to do any more dueling today?” Yusei questioned Yugi’s group.

“I don’t know,” Yugi replied.

“If anyone challenges us then I think we’re more than up for a challenge,” Joey said.

“Yugi’s already dueled today,” Mai confirmed.  “I think it’s only fair that Joey and I get our chances, especially since all of us need to each win eight locator cards.”

“Have you guys had a chance to duel at all today?” Joey asked looking at Jack’s group.

“No, not yet,” Akiza stated.

“I hope we get a chance to duel soon though,” Crow added.

“That reminds me,” Mai said. “Where’s Sherry, wasn’t she with you guys before the tournament start?”

“She was,” Misty stated. “She didn’t have any teammates when we first got here though. So she paired up with two other people and has been spending time getting to know about them and how they duel.”

“I see,” Tea replied.

Meanwhile Jack was just sitting their mumbling under his breath. They did hear the word Kaiba a few times and then they heard Carly’s name mentioned.

“Jack, are you okay?” Akiza questioned.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Jack replied.

“Why are making such a big deal about it?” Yusei asked. “You told her that you didn’t like her.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jack replied.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go get a drink.”

“What’s up with him?” Crow asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” Yusei said getting up and following Jack.

As soon he caught up with Jack and he made sure that no one was looking at them, Yusei finally spoke.

“Alright Jack, what’s up?” Yusei questioned.

“What are you talking about?” Jack replied.

“You were muttering about Carly and Kaiba under your breath,” Yusei confirmed. “Look, we don’t know if those two are dating; and even if they are why are you so bothered about it? You did make it clear to her before that you didn’t like her.”

“…It was a lie,” Jack admitted.

“It was a lie?” Yusei questioned.

“Yes,” Jack confirmed. “I lied to her.”

“Why did you lie to her though?” Yusei asked.

“Something happened when she was a Dark Signer and I dueled with her. ” Jack stated. 

“What was it?” Yusei inquired.

“I was willing to die for her,” Jack stated. “I was willing to make it so we both lost the duel, just so she wouldn’t die alone. Had she not taken a dive, that’s how it would have been. The fact that I was willing to do something that extreme, it scares me, and even scarier, I think I’d do it again.”

* * *

 

_Meanwhile_

The rest of the group was still sitting at the table.

“Say, can we ask you guys something?” Mina said.

“Depends, what is it about?” Tristan asked.

“It’s about Carly,” Misty stated.

“Okay, what about Carly?” Yugi asked.

“Are she and Kaiba, dating?” Mina questioned.

Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Tea just looked at each other for a few seconds.

“No, they’re just friends,” Tea stated.

“That’s it?” Kalin inquired.

“Yeah, Carly is his best friend,” Tristan replied.

“And his only friend,” Joey added.

Tea elbowed him in the ribs.

The 5Ds gang huddled together in the corner of the table and started whispering to each other.

“Should we tell Jack this?” Luna questioned.

“No,” Crow stated.

“Why shouldn’t we tell him?” Mina asked.

“It will be fun to see his reactions,” Crow said.

“He’s going to have to find out eventually though,” Kalin confirmed.

“He’s an adult, he’ll figure it out for himself eventually,” Crow declared. “Someone should tell Yusei though.”

“I’ll tell him later,” Akiza offered.

_A few minutes later_

Yusei came back from his conversation with Jack. As soon as Akiza caught sight of him she pulled him to the side.

“Yusei, you won’t believe what the others just told us about Kaiba and Carly,” Akiza stated.

“Oh God, what is it?” Yusei asked.

“Kaiba and Carly are just friends,” Akiza stated.

“Wait, they’re just friends, seriously?” Yusei questioned.

“Yes seriously, that’s what Yugi and the others told us,” Akiza said. “The others don’t want to tell Jack this though.”

“Honestly, it’s probably better that way,” Yusei stated. “It might actually be good for him.”

_Several minutes later_

“So what are you guys going to do now?” Joey asked.

“Well, we’re going to head back to the hotel and see if we find anyone to challenge along the way I guess,” Crow said.

“What hotel are you guys staying at?” Tea asked.

“The one on 3rd and Chestnut,” Akiza stated.

“The Chamberlain? Tea inquired.

“Yes, that one, room 502,” Akiza said.

“Should we warn them?” Tristan asked Yugi.

“I suppose it for the best,” Yugi stated. “Before you guys go we have to warn you about something.”

“Warn us about something?” Jack inquired.

“Well, someone actually,” Yugi said. “There’s this guy who may be wandering around because he’s in the tournament. We haven’t seen him yet, but he will be around. His name is Bakura, he has white hair and he speaks in a British accent. If you see him, don’t talk to him. He is very dangerous.”

“Why is he dangerous?” Luna asked.

“We really can’t tell you the whole story,” Joey stated. “The point is though, stay away from him.”

“You know that name sounds familiar,” Trudge said.

“He transferred to our school after you got expelled,” Tristan said.

“You we’re expelled?” Mina inquired.

“What for?” Jack asked.

“I kinda beat the three of them up, really badly,” Trudge said looking Yugi, Joey and Tristan. “I’m not proud of it though.”

“Look, just say away from him if you see him,” Joey stated.

“Ok, we won’t talk to him if we see him,” Crow said.

“So I guess we’ll see you guys later then,” Yusei said.

And the two groups split up.

* * *

 

“You know we still have yet to face someone,” Crow confirmed.

“Well, there’s gotta be someone around here that we can challenge,” Akiza said.

“Why don’t we just look for someone to challenge?” Crow suggested.

“Okay, let’s search for someone then,” Akiza said.

“How about that girl over there?” Crow said pointing to someone.

Said person was a girl, who looked about 18. She had red hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a bright yellow tank top, white denim shorts, and black and white sneakers.

“Hey, miss,” Crow called catching said girl’s attention.

“Yes?” She said.

“Want to duel?” Crow asked.

“Sure, I’ve been looking for a good challenge,” the girl said.

“So what’s your name?” Crow asked.

“Amanda,” the girl said. “And you are?”

“I’m Crow,” Crow replied.

“Well Crow, you’re about to get your butt kicked by a girl,” Amanda said.

“Let’s duel.”

Since you’re a lady, I’ll let you go first,” Crow said.

“How kind of you,” Amanda mocked.

** Turn 1: Amanda **

Amanda draws “Earth Armor Ninja.” Amanda’s hand is shown to contain “Masked Ninja Ebisu,” “Magic Planter,” “Safe Zone,” and “Air Armor Ninja.” She Normal Summons “Air Armor Ninja” in Defense Position (1400/1400). Amanda sets one card and ends her turn.

** Turn 2: Crow **

Crow draws “Fake Feather.”  Crows hand is shown to contain "Blackwing - Blizzard of the Far North," “Against the Wind,” "Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow," “D.D. Crow,” and "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn." He Normal Summons “ Blackwing- Blizzard the Far North” in Attack Positon (1300/0). Crow sets one card and ends his turn.

** Turn 3: Amanda  **

 Amanda draws. She switches “Air Armor Ninja” into Attack Position. She attacks “Blackwing- Blizzard the Far North.” Since it is the Damage Phase and Crow has “Black Wing-Kault the Moon Shadow” in his hand he can activate its special ability. He sends it to the Graveyard and “Blackwing- Blizzard the Far North” gains 1400 Attack points until the End Phase. “Blackwing- Blizzard the Far North” (1300       2700). “Air Armor Ninja” is destroyed. Amanda (4000       2700).  Amanda ends her turn. “Blackwing- Blizzard the Far North” Attack Power goes back down to 1300.

** Turn 4: Crow **

Crow draws “Blackwing-Bora the Spear”. He has a “Blackwing” card on the field so he can Special Summon it from his hand (1700/800). He now has two “Blackwing” cards on the field. Since Amanda has no monsters Crow attacks her directly with “Blackwing- Blizzard Far North.” (Amanda 2700     1400). Crow ends his turn.

** Turn 5: Amanda **

Amanda Normal Summons "Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo" in Attack Position (1800/1000). She activates its special ability and can now add one “Ninjitsu Art” card to her deck. She chooses “Armor Ninjitsu Art of Alchemy.” She attacks “Blackwing-Blizzard Far North.” (Crow 4000 3500). Amanda ends her turn.

** Turn 6: Crow **

Crow draws. He passes his turn onto Amanda.

** Turn 7: Amanda **

Amanda sets a card and ends her turn.

** Turn 8: Crow **

Crow draws and tributes “Blackwing-Bora the Spear” to summon “Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn in Attack Position (2000/900). Next he attacks “Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo.” Amanda activates her trap card “Armor Ninjitsu Art of Freezing.” This negates Crows attack until the end phase. Crow ends his turn.

** Turn 9: Amanda **

Amanda draws and ends her turn.

** Turn 10: Crow **

Crow draws. He Normal Summons “Blackwing-Shura the Blue Flame” in Attack Position (1800/1200). With Amanda’s trap card now gone he can attack her “Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo.” (Amanda 1400    1200). Now with no monsters on the field Crow can attack Amanda directly. He does and the rest of Amanda’s life points disappear.

“Wow, Crow won,” Luna confirmed.

“I can’t believe I lost,” Amanda said.

“Hey, you’re a pretty good duelist Amanda,” Crow said. “Thanks for a good game.”

“No thank you Crow,” Amanda replied. “You taught me that I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go.”

* * *

 

_A few hours later_

Yugi and Carly were sitting in the Game Shop just chilling. Today was a pretty good day, but Carly was still kinda bummed that she didn’t get to duel anyone.

“Hello kids,” Grandpa said coming in with a hug box.

Yugi went over and took it from him and placed it on the counter.

“What is in the box Mr. Muto?” Carly asked.

“Since the Kaiba Corp. Tournament is taking place in the city Industrial Illusions is giving all the game shops these new cards to sell,” Grandpa stated. “I’m not putting these on display until tomorrow, but I thought maybe some of your friends would want to check them out.”

“Really, that would be cool,” Yugi said.

“Do you mind if I invite some people by as well Mr. Muto?” Carly asked.

“Of course not Carly,” Grandpa replied. “Go on ahead.”

Carly went over to the phone and began dialing a number. “Hello, room 502 please,” she said.

* * *

 

_The Chamberlin Hotel_

The phone in room 502 began to ring, so Akiza went over to it and picked it up.

“Hello,” Akiza said into the phone. “Hey Carly, new cards, for real?”

* * *

 

_Half an hour later_

Joey had been at the game shop in practically ten minutes after Yugi told him that his Grandpa got a shipment of new cards. The 5Ds gang, minus Mina and Trudge all showed up. Serenity watched in amusement as her brother went crazy over all the new cards, but thankfully she had more than that to do, as she and Crow were having a conversation. Carly was having a conversation with Misty and Kalin the whole time.

“Hey Joey,” Carly said catching her friend’s attention. “Don’t you have a date with Mai tonight?”

“Oh man,” Joey said sprinting out the door and making a left.

Carly got up and held the front door open. “Wrong way,” she called. On cue Joey was bolting the right by her in the other direction.

Carly went back to the counter and sat next to Serenity. After about a minute she looked at Yugi.

“Weren’t you supposed to meet up with Tea tonight?” She asked.

“Oh crap,” Yugi said getting up and running out the front door.

Once he was gone Carly just burst into laughter. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy until Yugi came back a minute later.

“That was mean,” he said to Carly.

“I know,” Carly replied through her laughter.

“Why’d you do that?” Yusei asked.

“I thought it would be funny,” Carly stated. “And it was.”

“Well guys, it’s getting late,” Serenity confirmed. “So I better head on home.”

“Do you want me to walk you home Serenity?” Carly offered.

“Thanks, but I should be fine,” Serenity replied.

“Are you sure?” Carly asked. “There are some pretty stupid people walking around this time of night, especially by your neighborhood. I really insist that I walk you home.”

“Want me to come with you Carly?” Crow offered.

Jack just gave Crow the dirtiest glare.

“Yeah, whatever, let’s just go,” Carly said.

So Carly, Crow, and Serenity left the game shop.

* * *

 

Once Serenity was safely in her house Carly and Crow made their way back to the Game Shop. They were quite for a while, but Crow had a question running through his head ever since lunch.

“Carly could I ask you something?” Crow asked.

“What is it?” Carly questioned.

“Earlier, after we had lunch with your friends, they warned us about somebody, a person named Bakura,” Crow stated.

“Did they?” Carly asked. “What did they say?”

“They said that Bakura was dangerous and we need to stay away from him,” Crow declared. “Was that a joke or were they telling the truth.”

Carly stopped and Crow noticed this so he stopped as well.

“Listen Crow, I can’t tell you everything because of personal reasons,” Carly stated. “The others don’t like him, for very good reasons I will say though. I can tell you this; they weren’t joking. He has done horrible, horrible things in the past. There is no doubt in my mind that he will try and do something again.”

“For real?” Crow questioned.

“Yes,” Carly replied. “So if you see him, you don’t speak to him. You run away, understood.”

“Okay, understood,” Crow declared.

Once they got back to the Game Shop five minutes later Carly went back to the counter with Yugi. She didn’t say much. She and Yugi sold the 5Ds gang the cards that they wanted and then they left.


	7. Chapter 7

_Next Morning the Chamberlin_

Crow was standing out on the balcony, thinking about what Carly had said to him last night about Bakura. She said “the others” don’t like him very much. She didn’t say “we” or “I”. She also looked very sad when she was talking about him. Why though?

“Hey Crow,” Yusei said coming out to the balcony. “You’ve just been sitting out here for quite a while now.”

“Oh, sorry,” Crow replied.

“Well don’t apologize,” Yusei said. “What’s on your mind?”

“Carly said something yesterday when we were walking back from Joey and Serenity’s house,” Crow stated. “It was about Bakura.”

“The guy that Yugi and the others warned us about?” Yusei inquired.

“Yeah, that’s the guy,” Crow confirmed.

“Well, what about him?” Yusei questioned.

“They weren’t joking about him,” Crow declared. “Carly said he really is a threat, and that he has done horrible, horrible things in the past.”

“Is that all?” Yusei questioned.

“No, something was strange when she was talking about him,” Crow said. “She only said that the others did not like him. She didn’t make it sound like she actually hated him. When she was talking about him she looked really upset about it.”

“When you put it like that it sounds like there’s a whole extra side to this story,” Yusei stated.

“Yeah, but what is it?” Crow asked.

“Whatever it is, it sounds like it makes Carly very unhappy,” Yusei replied.

“So we listen to them and stay away from this Bakura at all costs?” Crow inquired.

“Yeah, there’s only one problem with that though,” Yusei stated. “We still have no idea who exactly this guy is.”

* * *

 

_A few hours later, Kaiba Corp._

Kaiba and Carly were looking at the monitors that showed all the dueling areas around the city. So far everything looked okay.

“Sir, you should take a look at this,” one of the employees said.

Kaiba went over to the monitor that employee was currently working off of. He took just one look at the monitor before heading over to the phone in the room.

“Yugi, he’s here,” he said into the phone before hanging up.

_Several minutes later_

The girls had shown up to Kaiba Corp. to help “keep Carly distracted.” She was taken to a room, with a metal door and looked in. Mai, Tea, and Serenity were standing guard outside.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Carly yelled banging on the door. “Let me out of here.”

“This door isn’t going to hold long,” Tea declared. “So you better hurry.”

“Yeah, I’m going, I’m going,” Kaiba said walking away.

* * *

 

_A few minutes later_

The 5Ds gang was walking around the city, mainly looking for people to duel. So far though, they didn’t see anybody they felt like challenging. After about a few blocks they noticed something very, horrifying. There were two unconscious bodies on the ground in front of them.

“Oh my God,” was all Akiza could say.

Also standing there was a man, with white hair.

“Hi,” the mysterious man greeted.

“What happened to them?” Mina asked.

“They lost,” the man stated.

“Lost what?” Luna asked fearfully.

“A duel,” he replied.

A few seconds of nerve-racking silence

“Oh forgive me, where are my manners,” the man said. “My name is Bakura.”

It was indeed Bakura, and he was wearing his outfit from the Dawn of the Duel Arc.

“That’s the guy Yugi told as to stay away from?” Leo questioned.

“Oh, you know Yugi?” Bakura asked. “I’ve known him for most of my life myself. Do you happen to know where he is?”

“At this very moment you mean?” Crow inquired.

“Yes,” Bakura replied.

“No, we haven’t seen him at all today,” Misty stated.

“Dammit,” Bakura said.

“Why do you want to see Yugi?” Yusei questioned.

“We’re old friends,” Bakura stated. “And we have a few friends in common. So how do you know Yugi?”

“We have a friend in common,” Crow stated. “We met him through her.”

“Oh, who is she?” Bakura asked.

“Someone you’re not going to see,” Kaiba said.

The group looked to see that Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Kaiba, and Duke where now standing right behind Bakura. They really didn’t look happy to see him. They couldn’t blame them though. This guy gave off a very dark threatening aura.

“They know Carly?” Bakura inquired, eyes widening.

“Yes,” Tristan replied.

Bakura’s demeanor seemed to do a 180, he was entirely cheerful all of a sudden.

“Where is she?” Bakura asked. “I assumed that if I found Yugi, she would be with Yugi, but clearly that’s not the case. So where is she?”

“Kaiba just told you,” Joey stated. “You’re not getting anywhere near her.”

“Carly’s right, they really don’t like him,” Crow whispered to Yusei.

“Yeah, that’s how this is looking,” Yusei replied.

“Come on, I haven’t seen her in over a year,” Bakura complained. “Wait, she doesn’t even know I’m here does she? The second she found out I was here; she would have come looking for me. So you either trapped her somewhere or kept my appearance from her, and came to see me.”

“Maybe,” Duke replied, as the others look a little guilty when Bakura mentioned trapping Carly.

“Wait, why would you trap her?” Jack asked.

“To keep her from following us here,” Joey stated. "Why else?”

“Well, it seems I’ll never get to her then,” Bakura declared. “At least not now, she’ll break out eventually. Well, I have more dueling to do. Still haven’t gotten all eight locator cards that I need. So I will take my leave. We will meet each other again soon I’m sure, or not. Either way it will be a fun time. Oh, before I go though I do have a request.”

“And that would be?” Yugi asked.

“Would you pass on a message to Carly for me?” Bakura asked.

“What’s the message?” Joey asked.

“Would you tell her that I love her?” Bakura asked.

The 5Ds gang just looked absolutely shocked. Jack was clenching his fists.

“Why should we do you a favor?” Kaiba questioned.

“Because you know it would make her happy,” Bakura said before walking away.

“What was that?” Misty asked.

“Scary, it was scary,” Luna replied.

As soon as Bakura was out of sight, something else happened. The boys were nearly crushed by a metal door, that was thrown at them, by a fuming Carly.

“How, how did she do that?” Kalin asked in shock.

“I don’t know,” Crow said. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Uhm, hi Carly,” Yugi greeted.

“What the hell!” Carly yelled.

“What happened to the girls?” Duke questioned.

“I locked them in a closet,” Carly stated.

“You did what?!” Joey exclaimed.

“Oh, like what you did to me was any better,” Carly replied.

“We had a reason to do that,” Kaiba declared.

“Ok, what’s the reason?” Carly asked.

“Uhm, nothing that you should concern yourself with,” Yugi stated nervously.

“Well, the fact that you felt the need to lock me in a steel enforced room says otherwise,” Carly stated.

She began walking menacingly toward the guys. And they started to look nervous. She looked, at Yugi, then, Joey, then Kaiba, then Duke, then Tristan.

“Tristan, do you want to tell me what’s going on?” She asked stepping closer to him.

Tristan went wide-eyed, and just fell backwards covering his face. “Bakura was here, Bakura was here, not the face, not the face!” He yelled.

Carly looked at the rest of the guys.

“Dude, why would you do that?” Duke asked Tristan.

“She scares me,” Tristan declared.

“Bakura was here?” Carly inquired.

Uhm, yeah,” Joey replied.

“Where is he?” Carly asked.

“He already left,” Yugi stated. “So don’t bother to go looking for him. You’ll run into him sooner or later.”

“Why would you stop me from seeing him?” Carly asked.

“You know why Carly,” Kaiba said.

“It’s not like anything would have happened,” Carly stated.

“Carly, listen, I’m in charge, so I make the calls on this,” Yugi confirmed. “Please, just trust me.”

Kaiba pulled out his cell phone and called for medics to come and take the unconscious bodies.

Then he just put his hand on Carly’s shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. Carly who was not looking happy in the least bit leaned into him.

“Come on,” Kaiba said. “We’re dueling today.”

Carly nodded and looked back at the others. “See you later guys.”

Then Kaiba and Carly walked away.

“You think she’ll be alright?” Duke questioned.

“They’re best friends, Kaiba will take care of her,” Yugi declared.

“Wait they’re best friends?” Jack asked.

“Yes we had this discussion yesterday, they are best friends that is all,” Joey confirmed.

Crow just burst into laughter, and Jack in turn just started giving him the death glare.

Crow took one look at Jack before running away in the other direction. Everyone else just looked at the scene in confusion.

“I’ll get him later,” Jack said. “He can’t run forever.”

“So, what was that all about before?” Mina questioned.

“Well, Carly and Bakura have a complicated history,” Yugi stated. “We are going to leave. We still have locator cards to win.”

“Yeah, I have yet to duel somebody,” Joey confirmed. “First we should go rescue our girlfriends and my little sister from whatever closet Carly shoved them into.”

“That would probably be good idea right now,” Tristan added.

“So on that awkward note we are going to leave,” Yugi stated. “We’re sorry for the Bakura ordeal and whatever mental scars it may have brought you. So yeah, good luck with your duels, and we will be seeing you around.”

With that said the guys all left to save Mai, Tea, and Serenity.

“This has to be one of the strangest days of my life,” Akiza declared.

“Yeah, it’s not every day we meet someone that scary,” Leo added.

“I think he might be the scariest person we’ve met so far,” Luna stated.

“So, should we go look for people to duel now?” Yusei asked.

“I suppose so,” Jack replied.

“Okay, let’s go then,” Yusei said.

* * *

 

Carly and Kaiba were walking around Domino now looking for people to duel.

"Did he hurt anyone?" Carly murmured.

"Besides those unconscious people, no," was Kaiba's reply.

"That's good, things could have gone much worse," Carly said after a few moments of silence.

"I think he was just trying to attract attention, and he got it," Kaiba brought up. "He loves you, you know," he continued after a bit.

"I know, that's what makes this so hard," Carly answered.

The two continued walking in silence for a little while until Carly took a deep breath and changed the subject.

“So who should we challenge today?” Carly asked.

“I don’t really care who we challenge,” Kaiba stated. “We’re going to win either way.”

“Well, glad to see you don’t lack the confidence Seto,” Carly said sarcastically.

“Shut up Carly,” Kaiba said.

“You’re so mean,” Carly stated. “I’m depressed and you’re mean to me.”

“You can handle it,” Kaiba replied. “You put up with me all day.”

Carly just started laughing at this. “That I do,” she said.

“Hey Kaiba,” A familiar voice yelled.

Kaiba and Carly turned around to see an unexpected yet familiar face.

“Bandit Keith?” Carly questioned.

“I thought he was dead?” Kaiba asked.

“No, Marik found him,” Carly confirmed. “He was robbed of his soul, but he got it back.”

“If you two are done right now,” Bandit Keith interrupted. “Kaiba I challenge you to a duel.”

“Are you serious?” Carly asked.

“You bet I am,” Bandit Keith replied.

“Fine, but you’re going to regret challenging me,” Kaiba declared.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bandit Keith really didn't think this through

“Let’s duel,” both Kaiba and Keith said in unison.

Suddenly Carly heard huffing and puffing behind her and she saw Crow; he looked completely out of breath.

“Carly, I need to hide here with you for a while,” he said still trying to catch his breath.

“Any reason why?” Carly asked.

“I pissed off Jack,” Crow stated.

“Alright, you can hang out here,” Carly said.

“Thanks a ton, I owe you,” Crow replied.

“Yeah, yeah,” Carly replied dismissively.

“So who’s this guy Kaiba’s about to duel?” Crow asked.

“Bandit Keith,” Carly replied.

“Didn’t he used to be a champion in America?” Crow questioned.

“Yeah, he was until he lost a match to Pegasus,” Carly confirmed.

“Carly!” A voice exclaimed from behind her and Crow.

Carly and Crow turned to see all the girls standing there huffing and puffing.

“I see you all got out of the closet,” Carly confirmed.

“You locked them in a closet?” Crow questioned.

“Relax, it wasn’t a tiny cramped closet,” Carly said.

“That doesn’t excuse you locking all of us in there,” Tea stated.

“What excuses you all of locking me in a room with a metal door?” Carly asked.

“We were only following orders,” Serenity stated.

“That doesn’t make it any better,” Carly replied.

Mai looked for a way to change the topic. “Isn’t that Bandit Keith Kaiba’s dueling?” She asked.

“Yeah that’s him,” Carly confirmed.

“I haven’t seen his face since the Kaiba Corp. Grand Championship,” Tea stated.

“Yeah, well Seto’s going to kick his ass anyway,” Carly declared. “So who knows if and when we’ll see him again after this duel?”

**Turn 1: Kaiba**

Kaiba draws “ Silent Doom.” His hand contains “Vorse Raider”, “Blue Eyes White Dragon”, “The Flute of Summoning Dragon,” “Shrink”, and “Kaiser Sea Horse”. He Normal Summons “Vorse Raider” in Defense  Position (1900/1200). He sets one card and ends his turn.

**Turn 2: Keith**

Keith draws “Zoa”. His hand contains “Mechanicalchaser”, “Scapegoat”, “Polymerzation”, “Blast Sphere”, and “7 Completed’. He Normal Summons “Mechanicalchaser” in Attack Position (1850/800).  He moves to attack “Vorse Raider”. Kaiba activates his face down card “Shrink”. It cuts “Mechanicalchaser’s” attack points in half until the end phase. “Mechanicalchaser” (1850à925). Kaiba switches “Vorse Raider” into attack position and has it attack “Mechanicalchaser. It is destroyed since it is now weaker (Keith 4000à3025 Life Points). Keith ends his turn.

**Turn 3: Kaiba**

Kaiba draws. He plays “Kaiser Sea Horse” in Attack Position (1700/1650). He then plays “Pot of Greed” which allows him to summon two more cards. Kaiba then ends his turn.

**Turn 4: Keith**

Keith draws. He summons “Zoa” in Attack Position (2600/1900). He then activates the trap card “Metalmorph”. By putting it on his “Zoa” he can now tribute it to summon “Metal Zoa” in Attack Position (3000/2300). He orders it to attack “Kaiser Sea Horse”. It is destroyed since it is weaker (Kaiba 4000à2700 Life Points).  Keith sets one card and ends his turn.

“Oh no, Kaiba’s in trouble,” Serenity said.

“Don’t worry Serenity,” Carly said. “Seto has a plan.”

* * *

 

The 5Ds gang was walking by a Kaiba Corp Arena where riding duels took place. Crow had still not returned, but no one seemed too concerned with that at the present moment.

“Do you think Crow will ever come back?” Leo asked.

“Well, he is still part of a team,” Luna confirmed.

“Hey you,” A voice called from behind the group.

They turned around to see a girl, probably around 20. She had long black hair and violet eyes and was dressed in a red V-neck t-shirt, blue denim cutoffs, and white Converse low-tops.

“Can we help you?” Yusei asked.

“No, but he can,” the girl said pointing to Jack. “Jack Atlas, I’m Kayla, and I challenge you to a turbo duel.”

“You don’t have to accept it Jack,” Akiza stated. “After all, Crow is currently M.I.A.”

“No, I’ll duel her,” Jack stated. “Plus I never turn down a duel. Kayla, I accept your challenge.”

Every duel runner that was registered for the tournament was actually being held in the Kaiba Corp. Arena. So both Jack and Kayla had not trouble finding their duel runners. They got onto their duel runners and speeded into the arena.

“Let’s duel,” They both said.

The duelist who makes it around the bend first gets to go first. Kayla gets ahead of Jack and gets around the bend before him so she gets to go first.

**Turn 1: Kayla**

(Kayla’s SPC:0 ; Jack’s SPC: 0). Kayla draws “ Splendid Venus”. In her hand is “ Victoria”, “Cards from the Sky”, “Mystical Shine Ball”, “Solemn Judgment”, and “Shining Angel”. She Normal Summons “Shining Angel” in Attack Position (1400/800). She sets one card and ends her turn.

**Turn 2: Jack**

(Kayla’s SPC:1 ; Jack’s SPC: 1)

Jack draws “Trust Guardian”. In his hand is “Vice Dragon”, “Speed Mode”, “Spell of the Ruler”, “Dark Resonator”, and “Trap Eater”. He Normal Summons “Vice Dragon” in Attack Position (2000/2400).  “Vice Dragon” attacks “Shining Angel” and destroys it since it is weaker (Kayla 4000->3400 Life Points). Jack sets one card and ends his turn.

**Turn 3: Kayla**

(Kayla’s SPC:2 ; Jack’s SPC: 2)

Kayla draws. Since “Shining Angel was destroyed she can use its special ability to summon a LIGHT monster with 1500 or less attack points. So she Special Summons “Honest” in Attack Position (1100/1900). Next she Normal Summons “Mystical Shine Ball” in Defense Position (500/500) before ending her turn.

“Why would she summon such a weak card?” Kalin asked.

“She must have some sort of strategy,” Misty stated.

**Turn 4: Jack**

(Kayla’s SPC:3 ; Jack’s SPC: 3) Jack draws. He activates the spell card “Speed World”. Now both he and Kayla must place on speed counter of their own on the card. “Vice Dragon” attacks “Mystical Shine Ball”. Kayla activates “Honest’s” special ability. By sending it to the graveyard “Mystical Shine Ball” the same amount of attack points as “Vice Dragon”. Both monsters are destroyed as a result. Jack ends his turn.

**Turn 5: Kayla**

(Kayla’s SPC: 3 ; Jack’s SPC: 2) Kayla places one speed counter on “Speed World”. She then Normal Summons “Victoria” in Attack Position (1800/1500) and uses its special ability to Special Summon one Dragon-Type monster from Jack’s graveyard. Since “Vice Dragon is the only monster in his graveyard she chooses it. With “Vice Dragon” now on her side she has it attack Jack directly (Jack 4000->2000 Life Points). Kayla ends her turn.

“Oh no, there goes half of Jack’s life points,” Mina confirmed.

* * *

_Kaiba and Keith’s duel_

**Turn 5: Kaiba**

Kaiba draws. He Normal Summons “Lord of Dragons” in Attack Position (1100/1200). Next he activates face down card “The Flute of Summoning Dragon”. By having “Lord of Dragons” play the flute he can summon up to two Dragon Monsters on the field. He summons two “Blue-Eyes White Dragon” (3000/2500).

“As usual, not surprised,” Carly stated.

“What do you mean?” Crow asked.

“He was three of those cards,” Carly confirmed. “So the odds of him not drawing at least one of them are very slim.”

“Yeah, we’ve all seen that card more than we can count,” Mai stated.

“Well, with two of them on the field it looks like Keith is down for,” Tea said.

Kaiba has both of his “Blue-Eyes White Dragon” monsters attack Keith’s “Metalzoa”. Keith activates his trap card “Sakuretsu Armor”. However as long as “Lord of Dragons” is in play, “Blue-Eyes” is not affected by any spell or trap cards. “Metalzoa is destroyed (Keith 3025->25 Life Points). Kaiba then has “Lord of Dragons” attack Keith directly, eliminating the rest of his life points.

“No, how could I lose?!” Keith exclaimed.

 “I’m really surprised that you didn’t defeat him faster Seto,” Carly said sarcastically.

“Shut up Carly,” Kaiba replied.

“It’s over Keith,” Kaiba confirmed. “Now hand over your locator card.”

“What if I refuse?” Keith threatened.

“Carly…” Kaiba said looking at said knight.

“What am I your attack dog?” Carly asked.

“No,” Kaiba replied. “You’re my best friend; now go do your job.”

Carly walked up to him and gave him a deadly glare.

“I wasn’t afraid of you in Duelist Kingdom little girl,” Keith declared. “Why should I be afraid of you now?”

Carly grabbed Keith by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the ground.

“Give up the locator card now Keith,” Carly said. “Or I’ll kick your ass.”

Bandit Keith pulled the locator card out of his pocket and handed it to Carly. With the locator card in her hand Carly dropped Bandit Keith who fell on his ass.

“Now get the hell out of here,” Carly said.

Bandit Keith just got up and walked away.

“You are extremely violent,” Kaiba confirmed.

“Yeah, whatever,” Carly replied.

“How did you do that Carly?” Crow asked in shock.

“Is it so shocking that a girl can be strong enough to lift a guy off of his feet?” Carly questioned.

“No, I’ve just never seen it before,” Crow replied.

“She’s done it multiple times before,” Tea stated.

“Come on,” Kaiba said. “There are more dweebs for us to take out.”

“You really are an asshole,” Carly declared. “Are you all coming?”

So the group went off looking for more opponents.

* * *

 

**Turn 6: Jack**

(Kayla’s SPC: 2; Jack’s SPC: 1)

Jack draws. He Normal summons “Dark Resonator” in Attack Position (1300/300) and “Dark Bug” in Attack Position (100/100). He tributes both of them to synchro summon “Red Dragon Archfiend” in Attack Position (3000/2000).

“That’s one of Jack’s best cards,” Yusei confirmed.

“Looks like Kayla’s in trouble now,” Akiza stated.

Jack has “Red Dragon Archfiend” attack “Victoria”. Since it is weaker it is destroyed (Kayla 3400->2200 Life Points). Jack sets two cards face-down and Normal Summons “Top Runner” in Attack Position (1000/800) because it is on the field “Red Dragon Archfiend” gains 600 Attack Points(3600/2000), Jack ends his turn.

* * *

 

Kaiba, Carly, Crow, and the rest of the girls were walking around looking for more opponents. They were walking in the direction of the Kaiba Corp. Arena when they saw a boy. He looked about the same age as Carly, only he was taller than her. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and was wearing a black t-shirt, baggy blue jeans, and red sneakers.

“Hey you,” Carly called out to him.

“Who me?” The boy asked.

“Yeah, are you a turbo dueler?” Carly questioned.

“Yeah, I am,” He said.

“Are you up for a turbo duel?” Carly asked.

“Sure, why not,” he replied.

“Good, then meet me in the arena in 5 minutes then,” Carly said.

“Are you sure you want to duel him Carly?” Serenity asked.

“Yes, I believe I deserve a turn to duel,” Carly stated.

“Plus, now she gets to test out the prototype duel runner,” Kaiba added.

“Yes, that is a bonus benefit for you Seto,” Carly declared.

* * *

 

**Turn 7: Kayla**

(Kayla’s SPC: 2; Jack’s SPC: 2)

Kayla draws. She normal summons “The Agent of Mystery-Earth” in Attack Position (1000/800) and “The Agent of Wisdom- Mercury” in Attack Position (0/1400). She tributes both cards to summon “Master Hyperion” in Attack Position (2700/2100).

“Oh no,” Luna said. “She’s going to use it to destroy “Top Runner”,” Luna said.

“Like that will really do anything though?” A familiar voice questioned.

The group turned to see Carly, Kaiba, Crow, and the girls had showed up.

“Crow, I see you came back,” Yusei said.

“Yeah, but Carly’s currently acting as my bodyguard,” Crow stated. “So Jack can’t get me for now.”

“Yeah, well he’s currently occupied Crow,” Carly confirmed. “Plus, once his duel is over I have a turbo duel to compete in.”

“You got challenged to a turbo duel?” Akiza asked.

“No, she challenged someone,” Mai declared.

“Awesome, we get to see her Duel Runner in action,” Kalin said.

Everyone turned their attention back to Jack and Kayla’s duel.

Kayla instructed “Master Hyperion” to destroy “Top Runner”. Jack activates his trap “Spell of the Ruler”. He equips “Top Runner” with it and it gains 700 Attack Points. It is still sent to the graveyard but because of this Jack can inflict 700 points of damage to Kaya’s life points (Kayla 2200->1500 Life Points) (Jack 2000->1000 Life Points). Kayla ends her.

**Turn 8: Jack**

Jack Draws. He Normal Summons “Influence Dragon” in Attack Position (300/900) “Chain Resonator” in Attack Position (100/100), he tributes them along with “Red Dragon Archfiend” to synchro summon “Red Nova Dragon” in Attack Position (3500/3000). It gains 500 Attack Points for every tuner monster in the graveyard bring it’s attack power to 5500. It attacks “Master Hperion” and takes out the rest of Kayla’s life points. Both duelers stop their duel runners and exit the track.

“Alright Jack won!” Mina cheered.

“Yeah, for a while though it almost seemed like Kayla had him,” Trudge said.

“He always seems to find a way to win,” Carly deadpanned.

 “I can’t believe I lost,” Kayla said. “Now I know why they call you the King of Riding Duels.”

Kayla handed Jack her locator card.

“You’re a worthy opponent Kayla,” Jack said extending his hand out for Kayla to shake. “You dueled quite well.”

“Thank you Jack Atlas,” Kayla said shaking his hand. She then went back to her duel runner and rode off.

“Well Carly, looks like it’s you turn now,” Kaiba said.

“I know,” Carly replied. “I’m ready.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carly gets to finally show off her new deck and duel runner

The garage doors opened and Carly and her opponent speed onto the race track.  Carly’s duel runner was light blue (Kaiba Corp color of course) and resembled that of a Concept motorcycle **(Check out “Hyundai Concept 2013” on Google)**.

“Come on Carly, you’ve got this,” Tea cheered.

“Well, as much as I want to stick around and watch this guys I really should going,” Mai suddenly said.

“Why?” Serenity questioned.

“I need to go find Joey and Yugi,” Mai stated. “I wouldn’t want to miss a chance to duel.”

“Okay, good luck Mai,” Tea said.

“Thanks, see you guys around.”

Then Mai was gone.

“You know you never told me your name,” Carly said to her opponent.

“It’s Lucas,” the boy said.

“Well, Lucas, I hope you’re ready to lose,” Carly said.

“I don’t plan on it,” Lucas replied.

“Let’s duel.”

“Whoever makes it around the next turn first gets to duel first?” Carly does so she gets to go first.

**Turn 1: Carly**

(Carly’s SPC: 0; Lucas’s SPC: 0) Carly draws “Card Trooper”. Her hand is shown to have “Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden,” “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk,” “Royal Decree,” “Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn,” and “Mirror Force.” She Normal Summons “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk” in Attack Position (1600/1000). She sets a card and ends her turn.

**Turn 2: Lucas**

(Carly’s SPC: 1; Lucas’s SPC: 1)

Lucas draws “Miracle Fertilizer.” His hand is shown to have “Botanical Lion,” “Nettles,” “Lord Poison,” “Spore,” and “Revival Rose.” He Normal Summons “Lord Poison” in Defense Position (1500/1000) and ends his turn.

**Turn 3: Carly**

(Carly’s SPC: 2; Lucas’s SPC: 2)

Carly draws. She Normal Summons “Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn,” in Attack Position (1700/1000). Its effect makes her send the top 2 cards of her deck to the graveyard. “Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden” and “Foolish Burial” are sent to her graveyard. Since “Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden” was sent to the graveyard Carly must send the top card of her deck to the graveyard. Since one Lightsworn monster was sent to her graveyard “Raiden, Hand of Lightsworn” gains 200 attack points until the end of her turn.  Carly has “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk” attack “Lord Poison” because of its effect “Lord Poison” is shuffled back into Lucas’s deck. Next she has “Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn” attack Lucas directly (Lucas’s Life Points 4000->2100). Carly send the top two cards of her deck to the graveyard and ends her turn.

“Wow, she’s really good,” Luna said.

“Yeah, the deck’s a whole lot better than the Fortune Fairy deck she used to have,” Jack stated.

“Yes, she is quite something isn’t she?” An all too familiar voice asked.

Everyone turned to find Bakura sitting in the stands. He leaped down and landed a few feet behind everyone.

“What the Hell are you doing here?” Kaiba asked.

“I merely came to watch Carly duel,” Bakura replied.

“And why should we believe that that’s the only reason why you’re here?” Yusei questioned.

“She’s currently occupied,” Bakura confirmed. “I certainly wouldn’t be here to talk to her now would I and I have no reason to be anywhere near any of you.”

Everyone just turned their attention back to Carly’s duel. Kaiba kept a close eye on Bakura though.

**Turn 4: Lucas**

(Carly’s SPC: 3; Lucas’s SPC: 3)

Lucas draws. He Normal Summons “Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms” in Attack Position (2800/1200). It attacks “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk” (Carly’s Life Points 4000->2800). Lucas ends his turn.

“Oh, no, I don’t think there’s a card in Carly’s deck that can destroy that monster,” Akiza stated.

“Oh, there is, believe me,” Bakura said. “I do believe she’s going to end this duel with a trap card though.”

“Will you stop talking?” Kaiba demanded in an annoyed tone.

“Why? I’m only complimenting her,” Bakura declared.

“Why though?” Crow asked.

“That’s all you been doing,” Jack added.

“Simple, she’s amazing,” Bakura declared.

“Do you have to point it every second though?” Kalin asked.

“Well, I think she deserves some praise,” Bakura stated. “People seem to take her for granted.”

“What are you talking about?” Yusei asked.

“She works to protect so many people,” Bakura stated. “She’ll beat up anyone to protect the people she loves.”

“Yeah, she’s strong, but she can also get pretty scary,” Serenity stated.

“She’s always been that way, a tigress.”

Kaiba and Jack didn’t look pleased at that comment. It only caused Jack to clench his fists tightly until he swore his knuckles were turning white.

“Hey, don’t call her that!” Kaiba exclaimed.

“Why, she calls me Dragon all the time,” Bakura stated.

“Why would she call you that?” Jack asked.

“It’s part of an ancient Chinese idiom,” Bakura stated. “Two spirits are completely different from each other, but similar at the same time, and linked to each other by destiny.”

“And you think you’re linked to her?” Misty asked.

“Oh, I know I am,” Bakura said. “Ask one of these three and they will tell you the same thing.”

“Just shut up Bakura,” Tea replied with a dark look.

“What do dragons and Tigers have to do with each other?” Leo questioned.

“Like Bakura said it’s an ancient Chinese idiom. What it basically means is that while tigers and dragons are equally powerful they have different ways of doing things. A tiger charges in and a dragon waits and plans. Neither is better than the other, they cannot conquer each other, it is a little like yin and yang, they balance each other out” Kaiba replied.

Everyone turned their attention back to the duel.

**Turn 5: Carly**

(Carly’s SPC: 4; Lucas’s SPC: 4)

Carly draws. She plays “Charge of the Light Brigade” which allows her to add any level 4 or lower monster from her deck to her hand after she places the top 3 cards from her deck to the graveyard. Since one of the cards sent to her graveyard was “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast” she can special summon it. So she summons it in Attack Position (2100/300). She ends her turn.

“What is she doing?” Crow asked.

“Yeah, that card isn’t strong enough to take out Lucas’s card,” Leo stated.

“As I said before,” Bakura began. “Her face down card is a trap card that she plans to win the duel with.”

**Turn 6: Lucas**

(Carly’s SPC: 5; Lucas’s SPC: 5)

Lucas draws. He order’s “Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms” to attack “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast.” Just as it attacks Carly activates her face down card “Mirror Force.” “Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms” is destroyed and Lucas loses the rest of his life points (2100->0).

“She did it,” Jack confirmed.

“Of course she did,” Bakura said before walking away.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Kaiba questioned.

“You made it obvious that you didn’t want her to see me,” Bakura replied. “Not to worry though, I’ll run into her eventually.”

“Dammit, I can’t believe I lost,” Lucas said.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Carly replied. “You’re a pretty good duelist.”

“Thanks Carly,” Lucas said extending his hand out to her. “Nice dueling.”

“You too,” Carly said shaking his hand. Then he hopped back on his duel runner and rode off. Carly got off her own duel runner while some Kaiba Corp. employees arrived to take it back to the Game Shop.

“That was impressive Carly,” Yusei commented.

“Yeah, good job,” Crow added.

“Thanks,” Carly replied.

Carly walked toward the spot that Bakura was standing in before. She didn’t see him obviously, but she looked around as if she was searching for someone. Kaiba knew he had to get them out of there before she got suspicious.

“Come on Carly,” Kaiba said. “We have more work to do.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” Carly said following him.

The 5Ds gang left too in search for more people to duel, and Tea and Serenity went to look for the boys.

* * *

 

Mai spent a lot of time searching for the boys, but she finally found them by the park.

“Hey guys wait up,” Mai said calling out to them.

“Mai, where have you been?” Joey asked.

“I was watching Jack Atlas’ turbo duel against this girl at the arena,” Mai replied.

“How’d he do?” Yugi asked.

“He won,” Mai stated. “Carly actually got challenged to a duel there. I don’t know if she’s still dueling though.”

“Carly got challenged to a turbo duel?” Duke asked.

“No, she challenged someone actually,” Mai said.

“Where are Serenity and Tea?” Tristan asked.

“They’re still back at the arena,” Mai stated. “So, you boys haven’t found anyone to duel while I was gone did you?”

“Nope,” Joey replied.

“There’s got to be someone around here we can duel though,” Yugi said.

“Hey,” a familiar shrilly voice called.

The group turned to see the familiar faces of Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor.

“Oh, it’s you punks,” Joey said. “What do you want?”

“We challenge you two to a duel,” Rex said pointing to Mai and Joey.

“Don’t you two ever learn?” Joey asked.

“Yeah, do we have to defeat you again?” Mai questioned. “It’s gonna be even more embarrassing than the last times when Joey and I crushed you.”

“You two aren’t going to beat us this time,” Weevil stated. “We’re prepared for anything you throw our way this time.”

“What do you think Mai?” Joey asked looking at his girlfriend.

“Let’s teach these losers another lesson,” Mai said activating her duel disk.

“Right, let’s go,” Joey said doing the same. “As long as one of them loses all their life points, we win.”

“Let’s duel.”

**Turn 1: Weevil**

Weevil draws “Poison Butterfly”.  His hand is shown to contain “Gokibore,” “Insect Barrier,” “DNA Surgery,” “Leghful,” and “Parasite Catepillar.” He Normal Summons “Gokibore” in Defense Position (1200/1400). Then he ends his turn.

**Turn 2: Mai**

Mai draws “Harpie’s Feather Duster.” Her hand is shown to contain “Trap Jammer,” “Mirror Wall,” “Aero Nail,” “Harpie Lady,” and “Harpie Lady Sisters.” She Normal Summons “Harpie Lady” in Attack Position (1300/1400). She sets one card face down on the field and ends her turn.

**Turn 3: Rex**

Rex draws “Balloon Lizard.” His hand is shown to contain “Giant Rex,” “Polymerization,” “Jurassic Heart,” “Kaitoptera,” and “Chain of the Underworld.” He Normal Summons “Kaitoptera” in Attack Position (1400/1000). Since not every player has had one turn though, he cannot attack. So he ends his turn.

**Turn 4: Joey**

Joey draws “Battle Warrior.” His hand is shown to contain “Flame Swordsman,” “Swordsman of Landstar,” “Scape Goat,” “Pot of Greed,” and “Alligator’s Sword.” He Normal Summons “Alligator’s Sword” in Attack Position (1500/1200). He sets one card face down and ends his turn.

**Turn 5: Weevil**

Weevil draws. He activates the card “Cell Division.” This allows him to make a “Cell Division Token” of his “Gokibore” with equal attack and defense powers. He switches his other “Gokibore” into Attack Position and orders both his monsters to attack “Harpie Lady.” Mai activates her trap card “Mirror Wall.” It cuts the attack of the monsters in half (1200à600). Weevil sets on card face down and ends his turn.

**Turn 6: Mai**

Mai draws. She Normal Summons a second “Harpie Lady” and plays “Harpie’s Feather Duster”, getting rid of Weevil’s face down card, “DNA Surgery” is destroyed. She has “Harpie Lady” attack one of Weevil’s “Gokibore” and then the other “Harpie Lady” attack the other one (Weevil’s life points 4000->2600). Mai ends her turn.

**Turn 7: Rex**

Rex draws. He Normal Summons “Giant Rex” in Attack Position (2000/1200). He orders it to attack “Alligator’s Sword.” Joey activates his face down card “Scapegoat.” So Instead of “Alligator’s Sword” being destroyed one of the “Sheep Tokens” is destroyed. Since they are automatically in Defense Position when they are flipped, Joey loses no life points. Rex ends his turn.

**Turn 8: Joey**

Joey draws. He Normal Summons “Jinzo” in Attack Position (2400/1500). Jinzo attacks “Giant Rex”, it’s destroyed since it is weaker (Rex’s Life Points: 4000->3600). Joey ends his turn.

**Turn 9: Weevil**

Weevil draws. He summons “Insect Queen” in Attack Position (2200/2400). He has “Insect Queen” attack “Harpie Lady”, it is destroyed since it is weaker (Mai’s Life Points: 4000->3100). Weevil ends his turn.

**Turn 10: Mai**

Mai draws. She plays the spell card “Elegant Egotist” this allows her to Special Summon “Harpie Lady Sisters in Attack Position (1950/2100). Next she Normal Summons “Harpie’s Pet Dragon” in Attack Position (2000/2500) It gains 300 Attack Points for every “Harpie Lady” on the field, since there are three it’s attack power goes up to 2900. Mai orders it to attack “Insect Queen” which gets destroyed since it is weaker (Weevil’s Life Points 2600->1900). Mai switches “Harpie Sisters” to Defense Position and ends her turn.

**Turn 11: Rex**

Rex draws. He Normal Summons “Tyrant Dragon” in Attack Position (2900/2500). Rex Orders it to attack “Harpie Sisters” but Joey has one of the “Sheep Tokens” protect it. Since both of Rex’s opponents control a monster “Tyrant Dragon” can attack again, so it destroys Joey’s finally “Sheep Token.” Rex ends his turn.

**Turn 12: Joey**

Joey draws. He Normal Summons “Time Wizard” in Attack Position (500/400). He takes the chance of having “Time Wizard” spin the Time Roulette.

“Oh no not Time Roulette,” Tristan said.

“Why, what happens if it lands on a skull?” Serenity asked.

“If it does than “Time Wizard” and “Jinzo” will be destroyed,” Yugi confirmed.

After a few more seconds the Time Roulette slows down, but much to everyone’s dismay it lands on a skull and “Time Wizard” and “Jinzo” are destroyed. Joey loses life points equal to half the amount of “Jinzo’s” Attack Points (Joey’s Life Points 4000->2600). Joey sets on card face down and ends his turn.

**Turn 13: Weevil**

Weevil draws. He Normal Summons “Armored Centipede” in Attack Position (1600/1600). He moves to attack Joey directly but since “Jinzo” is no longer on the field “Mirror Wall” works again and Mai uses it to protect Joey. “Armored Centipede” attack points are reduced to

  1. Mai has “Harpie’s Pet Dragon” attack “Armored Centipede” it is destroyed and the rest of Weevil’s life points disappear.



 “No, I can’t believe we lost!” Weevil said in disbelief.

“Dammit!” Rex said.

“Alright you two, cough up the locator cards,” Joey said.

“No, it’s not fair!” Weevil exclaimed.

“Why should we just give our locator cards?” Rex said. “You might have won the duel, but you can’t force us to just hand over our locator cards.”

Next thing the two stubborn duelists knew, Tristan and Duke grabbed both of them by their shirt collars and lifted them both off the ground.

“Listen up you punks,” Tristan said. “Give up the locator cards now.”

“Yeah, or we’ll kick your asses,” Duke added.

Weevil and Rex fearfully handed over their locator cards. Tristan and Duke took them and dropped both duelists on their asses.

Then Rex and Weevil just ran off.

“Here you go guys,” Duke said handing Joey and Mai the locator cards.

“Well, know everyone on our team has two locator cards,” Yugi confirmed.

“Yeah, that’s pretty good,” Joey said.

Suddenly Yugi’s phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered it.

“Hello?”

“Yugi it’s me.”

“Kaiba?”

“Who else?”

“What is it?”

“Listen, Carly was dueling earlier, and Bakura showed up.”

“What? Did he do anything?”

Yugi put the phone on speaker.

“No, he just stood there and watched her duel.”

“That’s it?” Tristan asked.

“He made some comments about her dueling too. He even predicted a few of her moves.”

“She didn’t see him though?” Mai questioned.

“No, he was gone before she could even get off of her duel runner.”

“Wait a minute Kaiba isn’t she with you still?” Tea asked.

“We stopped to get drinks,” Kaiba replied. “She’s inside a shop getting them.”

“Right, wouldn’t want her hearing this,” Serenity said.

“Yeah, that would be a scary sight,” Duke added.

“Yeah, maybe for you, but I’m not afraid of her,” Kaiba declared.

“Come on Rich Boy,” Joey said. “Don’t tell me she doesn’t scare you even a little.”

“No, she doesn’t Wheeler,” Kaiba said. “Now shut up.”

“Well, what are we going to do about Bakura?” Tea asked.

“She’s going to have to talk to him eventually,” Kaiba said.

“So we’re supposed to just let it happen?” Yugi questioned.

“What else can we do?” Kaiba asked.

“Why don’t we just lock her up again?” Duke suggested.

“Duke when we did that the other day she got out, locked the girls in a broom closet, and almost killed us with the steel door we put her behind,” Yugi confirmed.

“...Right,” Duke replied.

“Look, she’s coming back,” Kaiba said. “I need to go.”

Kaiba hung up the phone.

“Kaiba hung up as soon as she came back,” Joey confirmed. “Doesn’t make him afraid of her even a little bit?”

“No, it makes him smart,” Tristan stated. “I admit I’m kinda afraid of her.”

“Obviously, since your reaction to her just looking at you while she was unhappy was to fall on the ground, confess everything, and yell ‘not the face, not the face’” Joey commented.

“Yeah, her wrath is scary,” Duke stated.

“I’m not afraid of it,” Mai said. “I got too used to it.”

“Same here,” Tea said.

“Well I have to admit that I’m a little afraid of her,” Yugi declared.

“Why?” Tea asked.

“Like Duke said, her anger is scary,” Yugi confirmed. “Last night when we were getting dessert from the fridge, there was one pint of ice cream left, and we both wanted it. I tried playing the King card, and she pulled out a Katana on me. I have no idea where it came from.”

“For real?” Tea asked.

“What kind of ice cream was it?” Mai asked.

“Chocolate,” Yugi replied.

“Well, that’s why then,” Serenity stated.

“So I’m guessing she won?” Joey questioned.

“Yeah, she sure did,” Yugi replied.

“I wonder where she was hiding the Katana” Tristan questioned offhandedly.

* * *

 

 Carly stepped out of the shop carrying two cups of coffee. She handed one to Kaiba and they started walking.

They were silent for a few minutes and Kaiba noticed that Carly was just staring at her coffee.

“What is it Carly?” Kaiba asked.

“Huh, oh, it’s nothing,” Carly said too quickly.

“Carly, I know that’s a lie,” Kaiba replied.

Carly let out a sigh. “I had the funniest feeling when I was standing by the stands after I finished my duel, like someone was there,” she said.

Kaiba was silent for a few seconds before he finally spoke again.

“Are you still upset about the Bakura thing the other day?” Kaiba asked.

“You didn’t have to lock me up” Carly answered.

“It was the only way we could be sure that you wouldn’t talk to him” Kaiba said.

“Look Seto, I’m going to have to see and speak to him eventually,” Carly declared. “Either Dragon will find me or I’ll run into him, it’s inevitable especially since he wants to see me and I want to see him.”

“I know,” Kaiba said. “I just don’t think it should be now.”

Carly still didn’t look very happy.

“Do you want some ice cream?” Kaiba offered.

“No thank you,” Carly said. “I had some last night; I had to argue with Yugi to get it though.”

“You pulled a sword on him didn’t you?” Kaiba questioned.

“He was playing the King card,” Carly complained. “What was I supposed to do?”

“Let him have it?” Kaiba suggested.

“Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen, it was chocolate ice cream and I’m not happy. I needed it” Carly declared. Kaiba just shook his head at her.

“So, how was my duel Seto?” Carly asked.

“I thought it was okay,” Kaiba said.

“Just okay?” Carly asked. “You’re the one who gave me the deck.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Kaiba replied. “You could have won the duel quicker”.

“Oh come on, I’m all depressed and your being mean to me” Carly whined. “I won the duel, the least you could do is tell me I did a good job.”

“As you already know, I’m not a nice person. Besides it’s not like you to fish for compliments.” Kaiba stated. “You’re constantly calling me a douche bag, what did you expect?”

“True enough” Carly laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Lightsworn deck is pretty interesting. I has some powerful cards in it, but the owner has to sacrifice cards to play most of them. Matches can't last for long as running out of cards means losing the duel, but the powerful cards can also mean winning quickly.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day Jack’s group was out looking for more people to duel for locator cards. So far they didn’t find anybody who looked up to dueling, granted it was ten in the morning. People would probably only be up right now if they were heading to work or extremely active and were working out.  After about an hour of unsuccessful searching they noticed some familiar faces walking in their direction. It was Carly, Serenity, Tea, and Mai.

“Well, look who we run into again,” Akiza said catching the group’s attention.

The girls stopped in their tracks.

“Oh, hey guys,” Carly greeted.

“What are you all doing out at this hour?” Crow asked.

“We went shopping,” Mai said.

“Why so early though?” Akiza questioned.

“There was a huge sale today,” Tea replied.

“Well, I’m just glad that there wasn’t too big of a crowd today,” Carly said. “So you guys didn’t make me push through a million vicious shoppers just to get you through.”

“Oh come on Carly,” Serenity said. “At least you found something that you like this time.”

“What did she find?” Jack inquired.

“I found a sword,” Carly replied with a smile.

“I still can’t believe you bought that expensive thing,” Tea said.

“Why?” Carly questioned. “It’s not like I was short on money. Seto gave me some since he forgot my birthday.”

“So you spent it on a sword?” Akiza asked.

“Yeah, girly things don't really impress her," Tea said.

"I'd hope you knew that already," Carly replied. "You've known me for like forever."

"Hey, since you brought up Kaiba," Mai said. "Aren't you supposed to be helping him with a project or something today?"

"Crap, you're right," Carly said using her phone to check the time. "I better head there now.

“I still find it hard to believe that Kaiba needs your help with something,” Tea said.

“Seto might be rich and a douchebag,” Carly said. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t need help sometimes though.”

“Yeah, but it seems like it’s always only from you,” Mai said.

“Whatever, I’ll see you all around" Carly answered.

With that said Carly jogged off, leaving the girls with Jack's group. There was a minute of awkward silence before Mai finally spoke.

"Well, I guess we should go now," she said.

"Yeah, we're supposed to meet up with the guys," Tea said. She looked for Serenity who was talking to Crow only a few feet away.

"Serenity," Tea said catching the auburn girl's attention.

Serenity looked at Tea and gave her a questioning look.

"We should go," Tea said.

Serenity nodded and said a goodbye to Crow.

"Well, see you all around," Mai said.

The girls walked away leaving Jack's group to stand there.

"Now what?" Crow questioned.

"Let's keep looking for opponents," Jack said.

The group walked all the way down to downtown Domino.

"Hey," a voice called.

Everyone turned to see a boy, probably about 18 standing before them. He had spiked black hair and brown eyes, and was dressed in a green tank top, black jeans, and black boots.

"Can we help you with something?" Aliza questioned.

"Yeah, you can help me by dueling me," he said pointing to Akiza.

"I'm guessing you don't know who I am," Akiza said. "I'll accept though."

"How can I not know who the Black Rose is," the boy said. "That's why I challenged you."

"Really, mind telling me your name?" Akiza asked.

"It's Riku," the boy said.

"Well Riku," Akiza said activating her duel disk.

"Let's duel," they said in unison.

"Since you're a lady I'll let you make the first move," Riku said.

"How kind of you," Akiza said sarcastically.

**Turn 1: Akiza**

Akiza draws "Card Trooper." In her hand is "Lonfire Blossom,"

"Book of Moon," "Royal Decree," "Dandylion," and "Effect Veiler."

She summons "Lonfire Blossom" in defense position (500/1400) she also sets a card and ends her turn.

**Turn 2: Riku**

Riku draws “Goblin Black Ops.” In his hand is “Summoner Monk,” “Goblin Beggar,” “Recurring Nightmare,” “Soul Rope,” and “Turret Warrior.” He summons “Goblin Beggar” in defense position (1000/2000). He ends his turn.

**Turn 3: Akiza**

Akiza draws. She sets another card face down and ends her turn.

“What’s Akiza thinking?” Crow questioned.

“She must have some sort of plan,” Jack replied.

* * *

 

_Meanwhile_

Yusei and the twins were walking around as well looking for opponents.

“Who do you think we should duel?” Luna asked.

“I don’t know,” Yusei said.

“Why can’t we just find somebody already?” Leo questioned.

“We don’t want to duel the wrong people Leo,” Luna stated.

Leo looked around at all the passing pedestrians with duel disks. It took him a while before one finally caught his attention. It was a boy, probably around his age with bright red hair and dark gray eyes. He was wearing a purple polo shirt, white knee shorts, and black and white sneakers.

“Hey,” Leo yelled.

The boy turned around and gave Leo a questioning look.

“You want to duel me?” Leo asked.

“Sure, why not?” The boy said activating his duel disk.

“Cool what’s your name?” Leo asked.

“It’s Spencer,” the boy replied.

“Well Spencer,” Leo said. “I hope you’re prepared to lose,” Leo stated.

“Me, lose, I don’t think so,” Spencer said.

“Let’s duel,” both boys said in unison.

“Yeah, go Leo!” Luna exclaimed cheering on her twin.

“I’ll let you have the first move,” Leo said.

“Thanks,” Spencer replied.

**Turn 1: Spencer**

Spencer draws “Cloudian-Acid Cloud.” In his hand is “Pot of Duality,” “Masked Chameleon,” “Light of Intervention,” “Cloudian-Smokeball,” and “Cloudian-Ghost Fog.”  He summons “Cloudian-Ghost Fog” in Defense Position (0/0) and ends his turn.

“Why would he summon a monster with no attack or defense points?” Luna asked.

“It has to have some kind of effect,” Yusei said.

**Turn 2: Leo**

Leo draws “Junk Box.” I his hand is “Morphtronic Boarden”, “Morphtronic Celfon,” “Morphtronic Radion,” “Mirror Force,” and “Giant Trunade.” He summons “Morphtronic Celfon” in Attack Position (100/100). Thanks to its special effect Leo can roll a six-sided die. It lands on four, so Leo can reveal four cards from the top of his deck and special summon a Level 4 or lower “Morphtronic” monster. He summons “Morphtronic Radion in Attack Position (1000/900). Thanks to its effect “Morphtronic Celfon” gains 800 attack points (900/100). “Morphtronic Celfon” attacks “Cloudian-Ghost Fog.” It is destroyed because it is weaker, but Leo sees that Spencer doesn’t lose any life points though.

“What the…?” Leo questioned.

“Thanks to my “Cloudian- Ghost Fog” my monster is destroyed but I don’t receive any damage,” Spencer said. “That’s not all though. Now I can put fog counters equal to the level of the monster you destroyed my Cloudian with. So there’s a fog counter on your Celfon.”

“Well my turn isn’t over yet,” Leo said. “My Morphtronic Radion can attack you directly.”

Spencer: 4000->3000 Life Points.

Leo sets one card and ends his turn.

“Well Leo’s in the lead,” Luna said.

“Yeah, but what is that fog counter going to do?” Yusei asked.

* * *

 

_Back to Akiza’s Duel_

**Turn 4: Riku**

Riku draws. He summons “Battle Warrior” in Attack Position (700/1000). Then he tributes it to special summon “Turret Warrior” (1200/2000). Since it was special summoned it gains attack points equal to “Battle Warrior,” (1900/2000). He orders it to attack “Lonfire Blossom.” It is destroyed since it is weaker. Riku ends his turn.

**Turn 5: Akiza**

Akiza draws. She summons “Cauis the Shadow Monarch” in Attack Position (2400/1000). Next she activates her face down card “Mind Control” this allows her to target one of her opponents monsters until the end phase but she can’t tribute or attack Riku with it. So she takes control of “Turret Warrior.” Since Riku now controls no monsters she can attack him directly with “Cauis the Shadow Monarch.”

Riku: 4000->1600 Life Points.

“Dammit,” Riku said.

“Alright, Akiza got him good!” Crow exclaimed.

“Yeah, but it’s not over yet,” Jack confirmed.   

 Akiza ends her turn, so “Turret Warrior” goes back to Riku.

**Turn 6: Riku**

Riku draws. He summons “Goblin Black Ops” in Attack position (1300/0). This card can attack Akiza directly so it does. After it attacks it is switched to Defense Position. Riku ends his turn.

Akiza: 4000->2700 Life Points.

**Turn 7: Akiza**

Akiza draws. She summons “Debris Dragon” in Attack Position (1000/2000). Its effect allows her to summon a monster with 500 attack points or less from her graveyard. So she special summons “Lonfire Blossom.” Next she has “Debris Dragon” attack “Goblin Black Ops.” It is destroyed but Riku does not lose any life points because it was in Defense Position. Then she has “Cauis the Shadow Monarch” attack Riku directly. He loses his remaining life points, ending the duel.

“No way,” Riku said. “I can’t believe I lost.”

“You’re a pretty good duelist Riku,” Akiza said holding out her to him.

“Thanks,” Riku said shaking her hand.

He pulled out his locator card and handed it to her. “It was an honor dueling the Black Rose.”

With that said he took off.

“Well, what should we do now?” Akiza asked.

“Why don’t we see if we can find the others?” Jack suggested.

Akiza and Crow nodded and the group headed off.

* * *

 

_Back to Leo’s Duel_

**Turn 3: Spencer**

Spencer draws. He summons “Masked Chameleon” in Attack Position (1600/1100).Thanks to its effect Spencer brings back “Cloudian- Fog Ghost” in Defense Position.  He orders “Masked Chameleon” to attack “Morphtronic Boarden.”  It is destroyed since it is weaker. Spencer then ends his turn.

Leo: 4000->2900 Life Points.

**Turn 4: Leo**

Leo draws. He summons “Morphtronic Videon” in Attack Position (1000/1000). He then uses the card “Double Tool C&D” to “Morphtronic Videon” giving it an additional 1000 attack points (2000/1000). He has it attack “Masked Chameleon.” It is destroyed since it is weaker. Leo ends his turn. “Morphtronic Videon’s” attack points go back down since it is the end of his turn. Since it has a card equipped to it though, its attack points increase by 800, (1800/1000).

Spencer: 3000->2600.

**Turn 5: Spencer**

Spencer draws. He summons “Splendid Venus” in Attack Position (2800/2400); because of its effect all non-Fairy-type monsters lose 500 attack and defense points, “Morphtronic Videon” (1300/500), “Morphtronic Celfon” (500/500).

“Oh no,” Luna said. “Leo’s doomed. “

“I wouldn’t bet on that Luna,” Yusei said.

“Why?” Luna questioned.

“Don’t forget, Leo still has a face down card.

Spencer orders “Splendid Venus” to attack “Morphtronic Videon.” “Splendid Venus” unleashes its attack. Leo activates his face down card, “Mirror Force.” Spencer’s monster’s attack is directed right back at it and “Cloudian- Ghost Fog.” They are destroyed and Spencer loses the rest of his life points. Leo wins the duel.

“Oh man,” Spencer said. “I lost?”

“Hey, don’t be too hard on yourself,” Leo said. “It was a really good duel.”

“Thanks,” Spencer replied.

He pulled his locator card out of his pocket and handed it to Leo.

“You’re a pretty good duelist Leo,” Spencer said. “Well, bye now.”

And Spencer turned to leave.

“Great job Leo,” Luna said.

“Thanks,” Leo replied. “So what should we do now?”

“Maybe we should find the rest of the group,” Yusei suggested. “They should be up and moving by now.”

“Okay,” the twins replied.

So the three of them went off to search for the others.

* * *

 

Yugi, Joey, and Mai were out looking for opponents as well, and of course, Tristan, Tea, Duke, and Serenity were with them.

"So who are you guys going to duel today?" Serenity asked.

"We don't know," Mai replied.

"Yeah, we can't just duel the first people we see," Joey said. "We need real opponents."

"Hey guys look who it is," Tea said pointing out in front of the group.

Everyone looked to see Misty, Mina, Kalin, and Trudge standing by a music shop looking in the window.

"Hey," Yugi called out to them.

The whole group turned around at the sound Yugi's voice and saw the group approaching them.

"Oh, hi everybody," Mina greeted.

"What are you guys up to?" Tristan asked.

"We're actually just looking around," Misty said. "Acting like regular tourists is actually kind of exciting."

"Really?" Mai questioned.

"Hey, when you travel around for work it's nice to be able to act like a regular tourist," Misty stated.

"Ok, fair enough," Mai stated.

"How come Carly isn't with you guys?" Kalin asked.

"She's helping Kaiba with a project," Yugi stated.

"What kind of project?" Trudge asked.

"We honestly don't know," Duke replied.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," a familiar accented voice said.

Everyone turned to see none other than Bakura.

"What are you doing here?" Joey questioned.

"I'm in the tournament like the rest of you, in case you forgot," Bakura replied.

"How do we know you didn't show up because we mentioned Carly?" Tea questioned.

"Come now, we're not still going on about that are we?" Bakura asked. "You all know that I'm going to see her very soon."

"You guys want to see something?" Joey whispered to Trudge.

"What is it?" Trudge asked.

"Bakura has somewhat of a split personality," Tristan added in a whisper. "He can do a complete 180."

"Actually, Carly was talking about you the other day," Joey stated.

"Really, and what did she say?" Bakura said sounding a bit more cheerful and less sinister. His aura wasn't even that frightening anymore.

"Just that she missed you," Yugi added.

"That's it?" Bakura questioned.

"Yeah, pretty much," Tristan said.

"I think you're all lying," Bakura said. "She had to have said more."

"Why would we lie to you Bakura?" Tea questioned. "You're pretty good at detecting that kind of stuff."

"We'd be lying to you if we told you she said she didn't miss you," Mai added.

"There has to be more, tell me," Bakura demanded.

"No we swear that's it," Yugi declared.

"You all suck," Bakura stated. "I'm out of here."

Then like that Bakura was off.

"The best way to defuse any situation involving Bakura is to mention Carly in a positive way" Joey offhandedly commented.

The 5Ds group couldn't believe what just occurred.

"Did that really just happen?" Mina asked.

'Yeah, it pretty much did," Serenity replied.

"You're right, that did seem like a complete 180 personality change," Trudge stated.


	11. Chapter 11

The next day Kaiba, Carly, and Mokuba were all hanging out at Kaiba Corp. It was still pretty early in the day so going out now seemed pointless. Mokuba and Carly were sitting in Kaiba’s office watching TV.

“Man, there’s nothing good on today,” Carly complained.

“Well, what do you expect?” Mokuba asked. “Everything is either news or reality T.V. nowadays. Yeah there are cartoons but they’re not all that great anymore.”

“Well, I normally don’t mind the news, especially since I worked as a reporter for a year, but all they’re talking about now is Seto’s tournament.”

“So you guys don’t want to go out searching for opponent’s today?” Mokuba asked.

“Well, not yet,” Carly replied. “It’s still kind of early in the day. I have a feeling we might just end up staying here and observing though.”

“True enough,” Mokuba said. “We pick up the most dueling feed after lunch time.”

“Speaking of which, I hope you’re brother gets back soon,” Carly stated. “I’m starving.”

“Of course you are Carly,” Mokuba replied. “When aren’t you hungry?”

“Well, what can I say?” Carly stated. “It’s the price of me having enhanced everything.”

“Well, knowing Seto he’s probably taking his sweet time,” Mokuba stated. “He always does, except when it comes to dueling. It actually annoys the Hell out of me sometimes. So does his ego.”

“Those are small things Mokuba compared to what some siblings are like,” Carly stated. “Yes Kaiba is a workaholic, and he’s got a big ego, and he’s obsessed with winning, but there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that he loves you. I mean, have you ever had to ask yourself that sort of question?”

“No,” Mokuba replied. “….Carly, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so…”

“It’s okay,” Carly replied. “I know it’s hard to remember sometimes.”

Suddenly Kaiba came into the office with a pizza box in his hand.

“About time you got back,” Carly said.

“Yeah, well you’re lucky I’m even buying you lunch,” Kaiba replied. “I could leave you hanging.”

“Come on Seto,” Carly said. “We all know you wouldn’t do that, you love me too much.”

“Whatever, let’s just eat,” Kaiba stated.

So they all sat there and ate there pizza and chatted with each other. About an hour later though one of Kaiba’s security guards came into the room

“Sorry to interrupt you Mr. Kaiba, but Mr. Pegasus is here to see you,” the guard said.

“Did he say what he wants?” Kaiba asked, clearly irritated by the fact Pegasus was in the building.

“Just that he wanted to talk to you sir,” the guard said.

“Where is he now?” Kaiba asked.

“He’s in the lobby sir,” the guard stated.

“Carly, you and Mokuba are going to have to keep him occupied for a while,” Kaiba stated.

“Why us?” Carly asked.

“I bought you lunch,” Kaiba confirmed. “The least you can do is keep Pegasus distracted for a little while,” Kaiba stated.

“Fine, but only for a little while,” Carly stated. “You’re welcome.”

Kaiba walked toward the door and looked at the guard. “Send him up.”

Then he left. A few minutes later Pegasus came bursting into the office.

“Oh Carly girl, Mokuba,” Pegasus greeted. “It’s so fabulous to see both of you.”

“Hey there Pegasus,” Carly greeted.

“Hi Pegasus,” Mokuba greeted unenthusiastically.

“Not so happy to see me Mokuba boy, why is that?” Pegasus asked.

“Let’s just say I still don’t appreciate you kidnapping me years ago,” Mokuba stated.

“Come on Mokuba,” Carly said. “Pegasus wouldn’t do that anymore.”

Then she looked at Pegasus and gave him a death glare. “Isn’t that right Pegasus?”

Pegasus looked frightened for a moment but he regained his composure. “Of course not, I’ve no quarrel or issues with Kaiba anymore, and if I did I would not take it out on young Mokuba.”

“So why did you come here Pegasus?” Carly questioned.

“I was thinking of designing some new cards for the duel monsters tournament,” Pegasus stated. “I figured Kaiba boy would like to take a look at the designs and tell me if he would be interested in being the first to test out the new cards.”

“Really?” Mokuba asked. “Knowing Seto he will. If there’s a new card out that’s powerful enough he’ll want the first one.”

“What were you and young Mokuba talking about?” Pegasus questioned.

“We were talking about siblings,” Carly stated.

“Oh,” Pegasus replied. He put his hand on Carly’s shoulder and patted it lightly. “I’m sorry Carly.”

“Thanks Pegasus,” Carly said with a light smile.

Then Kaiba came back into the room.

“Alright Pegasus, why are you here?” Kaiba asked.

“Nice to see you too Kaiba boy,” Pegasus replied.

“Both of you better be civil or I’ll come back in and kick your asses,” Carly stated.  “Come on Mokuba, let’s let these two talk business.”

So Carly and Mokuba left the room.

* * *

 

_Elsewhere in the city_

Yugi, Joey, and Mai where out looking for people do duel, and of course Tea, Tristan, Serenity, and Duke were with them, always the cheerleaders after all, so far there wasn’t anyone who looked like a good opponent in downtown Domino, so they were looking in the park.

“There’s gotta be someone to duel around here,” Mai stated.

“Yeah, I want someone to take out,” Joey said.

“Don’t get so cocky Joey,” Tristan stated. “Don’t want that entire ego getting to your head.”

“Hey, shut up Tristan,” Joey replied.

Before Joey and Tristan could get into one of their stupid arguments a feminine voice interrupted them.

“Hey you,” the voice said.

Everyone turned around to see a girl, probably around 17, with long straight sandy blonde hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a black sleeveless leather vest with a gray hood, a black denim skirt, and black combat boots.

“Sorry, but who are you talking to?” Yugi asked.

“Him,” the girl said pointing Joey. “I challenge you to a duel Joey Wheeler.”

Joey looked at Yugi and then at Mai, both who nodded.

“Well, who am I to refuse a lady?” Joey said activating his duel disk. “Do you mind telling me your name though?”

“It’s Natasha,” the girl said activating her duel disk.

“Well Natasha, I hope you’re ready to lose,” Joey stated.

“Oh, we’ll see who loses,” Natasha replied.

“Let’s duel.”

“I’ll even be nice and let you go first,” Joey said.

“Oh, how nice of you,” Natasha stated.

**Turn 1: Natasha**

Natasha draws “Call of the Haunted.” Her hand contains “Noble Knight Artorigus,” “Merlin,” “Noble Knight Borz,” “One for One,” and “Rescue Rabbit.” She normal summons “Noble Knight Borz” in attack position (1700/900). She ends her turn.

**Turn 2: Joey**

Joey draws “Swordsman of Landstar.” His hand contains “Alligator’s Sword,” “Skull Dice” “Blue Flame Swordsman,” “Graceful Dice,” and “Knight of Landstar.” He normal summons “Blue Flame Swordsman” in attack position (1800/1600). He then plays the card “Graceful Dice.” It drops the die and it rolls and lands on five, increasing “Blue Flame Swordsman”‘s attack points to 2300. It attacks “Noble Knight Borz”, which is destroyed because it is weaker. Natasha’s Life Points 4000->3400\. Joey sets on card and ends his turn,

Natasha didn’t look too disappointed as she drew her next card though.

“Alright, Joey’s doing great,” Tea said.

“I wouldn’t get to confident though,” Duke stated. “Natasha looks like she’s got something in her deck to stop him.”

* * *

 

_Meanwhile_

In uptown Domino the whole 5Ds gang was out and about looking for opponents.

“Who do you think we should duel today?” Leo asked.

“I don’t know, but remember guys we all don’t have to be dueling every day,” Yusei stated.

“Yeah, but who isn’t up to a good challenge, especially since we’re in one of Kaiba’s Tournament?” Akiza asked.

“She makes a good point there,” Crow asked.

“Well, why don’t we just look for people with duel disks and go from there?” Luna suggested.

“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me,” Yusei replied.

They walked around for about five minutes until Luna spotted a girl with a duel disk.

She looked around the same age of her, and had light pink hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a white V-neck t-shirt, blue denim shorts, and pink sneakers.

“Hey you,” Luna called to her.

It caught her attention because she looked right at Luna.

“You want to duel?” Luna asked.

“Duel, with you, sure why not,” the girl said activating her duel disk. “I’ve been looking for someone to beat all day.”

“Well, before we jump to conclusions, how about telling me your name first?” Luna said activating her duel disk.

“It’s Rena,” the girl said.

“Well Rena, I hope you’re ready to lose,” Luna stated.

“Yeah right,” Rena said.

“Let’s duel.”

“I’ll let you go first,” Rena stated.

 “Gee thanks,” Luna replied.

**Turn 1: Luna**

Luna draws “Kuribon.” Her hand contains “Shining Angel,” “Spirit of the Breeze,” “Mirror Force,” “Luminous Spark,” and “Sunlight Unicorn.” She normal summons “Sunlight Unicorn” in defense position (1800/1000). She sets on card and ends her turn.

**Turn 2: Rena**

Rena draws “Mine Mole.” Her hand contains “Giant Rat,” “Bicorn Re’em,” “Nimble Momonga,” “Beserking,” and “Unicorn Beacon.” She normal summons “Giant Rat” in attack position (1400/1450). She ends her turn.

**Turn 3: Luna**

Luna draws. She activates “Sunlight Unicorn”‘s effect and excavates the top card from her deck, it is “Horn of the Unicorn.” Since it is an equip card Luna can add it to her hand. She activates it and “Sunlight Unicorn gains 700 attack points (1800-2500). Luna switches “Sunlight Unicorn” to attack position and has it attack “Giant Rat,” which is destroyed since it is weaker. Rena’s Life Points (4000->2900)

“Luna’s doing really well so far,” Yusei commented.

“The duel’s far from over though.

* * *

 

_Back to Joey’s Duel_

**Turn 3: Natasha**

Natasha draws. She normal summons “Merlin” in attack position (1400/500). She tributes it to special summon “Noble Knight Gawayn in attack position (1900/500). It attacks “Blue Flame Swordsman,” which is destroyed since it is weaker. Joey’s life points (4000->3900).

**Turn 4: Joey**

Joey draws. He summons “Alligator’s Sword in attack position (1500/1200).  He also summons “Knight of Landstar” in attack position (1000/1200). He activates his face down card “Skull Dice.” It drops the die, it rolls and lands on a six, so “Noble Knight Gawayn”‘s attack points drop to 1300. “Alligator’s Sword” attacks it and it is destroyed since it is weaker. Then Joey has “Knight of Landstar” attack Natasha’s life points directly. Then he ends his turn. Natasha’s life points (3400->2200).

**Turn 5: Natasha**

Natasha draws. She summons “Noble Knight Artorigus” in attack position (1800/1800). Then she summons “Noble Knight Brothers” in attack position (1200/2400). Its special effect allows her to summon two more “Noble Knight” monsters. She summons “Noble Knight Drystan” in attack position (1800/800) and “Noble Knight Eachtar” in attack position (1600/2000). She has “Noble Knight Artorigus” attack “Alligator’s Sword” which is destroyed. Then she has “Noble Knight Eachtar” attack “Knight of Landstar” which is destroyed as well. Then she has “Noble Knight Drystan” attack Joey directly.  Natasha ends her turn. Joey’s life points (3900->1200).

“Oh no, she took out all of Joey’s monsters,” Tristan said.

“Don’t worry guys,” Yugi said. “I’m sure Joey has a card to get him out of this.”

**Turn 6: Joey**

Joey draws. He summons “Red Eyes Black Dragon” in attack position (2400/2000) and “Axe Raider” in attack position (1700/1150) then he sets on card and ends his turn.

**Turn 7: Natasha**

Natasha has “Noble Knight Eachtar” and “Noble Knight Drystan” attack “Red Eyes Black Dragon” together. Joey activates his face down card “Bottomless Trap Hole.” It destroys all of Natasha’s monsters with 1500 attack points or more, leaving only “Noble Knight Brothers” on the field. Joey can now destroy it with “Red Eyes Black Dragon” and has “Axe Raider” wipe out the rest of Natasha’s life points, ending the duel.

“Yeah, Joey did it!” Serenity cheered.

“Yup, he did,” Mai confirmed.

“I can’t believe I lost,” Natasha said.

“Hey don’t be hard on yourself,” Joey stated. “You’re a pretty good duelist and your deck’s pretty cool.”

“Thank you Joey Wheeler,” Natasha said. “It was an honor dueling you.”

With that said Natasha turned around a walked away.

“Great job Joey,” Yugi said. “That was some good dueling.”

“Thanks a lot Yuge,” Joey replied. “So what do we do know?”

“Why don’t we see if the others are dueling right now?” Yugi suggested.

“I guess we can do that,” Mai replied. “We haven’t seen them duel in a while.”

“Well let’s get going then,” Joey said.

* * *

 

_Back to Luna’s Duel_

**Turn 4: Rena**

Rena draws. She summons “Dark Desertapir” in attack position (1100/ 300) and she activates the trap card “Beserking.” It causes “Sunlight Unicorn,” to lose half of its attack points (1800-900) and allows “Dark Desertapir” to gain and equal amount of attack points (1100-2000). It attacks “Sunlight Unicorn,” which is destroyed because it is weaker. Rena ends her turn. Luna’s life points (4000->2900).

“Hey guys,” a familiar voice greeted.

Everyone turned to see Yugi and the gang.

“Did you guys get any dueling done?” Mina asked.

“Yeah, Joey just won one,” Mai declared. “What’s going on now?”

“Luna’s dueling this girl,” Leo said gesturing to the duel.

“They’re tied now,” Misty confirmed.

**Turn 5: Luna**

Luna draws. She normal summons “Sunny Pixie” in defense position (300/400), and “Wattkiwi” in defense position (600/100). She ends her turn.

“What’s Luna doing?” Yusei asked.

“She has a plan,” Leo stated.

**Turn 6: Rena**

Rena draws. She normal summons “Elephun” in attack position (500/300). She has it destroy “Sunny Pixie.” Next she has “Desertapir” destroy “Wattkiwi.” Rena ends her turn.

**Turn 7: Luna**

Luna draws. Since she has two light monsters in the graveyard she can special summon “Soul of Purity and Light” in attack position (2000/1800) she also summons “Regulus” in attack positon (1700/1000). She has “Soul of Purity and Light” destroy “Desertapir” and “”Regulus” destroys “Elephun.” Rena’s life points (2900->1800).

**Turn 8: Rena**

Rena draws. She passes her turn.

**Turn 9: Luna**

Luna has “Soul of Purity and Light” attack Rena directly, eliminated the rest of her life points and ending the duel.

“Yeah, great job Luna!” Leo cheered.

“No way, how could I lose?” Rena asked.

“Hey, it was a great duel and you were a pretty good opponent,” Luna said.

“Well, thanks, and I can say I’ve learned how I can improve my strategy from this duel,” Rena said.

Rena extended her hand out to Luna. “Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” Luna said shaking her hand.

“See you around,” Rena said before running off.

“Good dueling there Luna,” Yugi said.

“Really, thanks,” Luna replied.

“So do you guys have any plans for the rest of the day?” Tea asked.

“Not really, we were just planning on going back to the hotel when these guys were done dueling,” Trudge said.

“Well, if you guys want, you’re welcome to come and hang out at the Game Shop,” Yugi offered.

“Well thanks, what do you guys say?” Yusei asked.

“I’m cool with it,” Crow replied.

“Me too,” Akiza said.

“Why not?” Jack said.

“We’re cool with it,” Leo said.

“Alright it looks like we’re all going to the game shop then,” Mina stated.

“Alright, come on,” Yugi said.

* * *

 

The large group was walking down one of the less crowded streets of the city when they noticed someone very familiar standing by one of the alleys, Bakura.

“You, what are you doing here?” Joey asked.

“It’s a public place,” Bakura confirmed. “I have every right to be here.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that you can be up to something,” Tristan added.

“Now why would I want to do that?” Bakura asked. “Especially in the front of your new friends here.”

Yugi noticed the sword sheath tucked under Bakura’s coat though. He looked at Tea.

“Call Kaiba,” he whispered.

Tea nodded and stepped back from the group a bit. Tristan noticed this and stood near her to protect her.

The phone rang twice before someone picked up on the other end.

“Kaiba,” the voice on the other end said.

“Kaiba, it’s Tea,” Tea said in a whisper.

“Why are you calling me and why are you whispering?” Kaiba asked.

“Listen, we were heading back to the Game Shop, and now Bakura’s here,” Tea stated. “We have Carly’s other friends with us, and he has a sword.”

“Alright, I’m on my way,” Kaiba stated.

* * *

 

_Kaiba’s Office_

“What’s going on?” Carly asked.

“I’m not going to lie,” Kaiba said. “That was Tea, they found Bakura, and they’re being harassed...... He has a sword.”

“What,” Carly replied.

“I need to check it out,” Kaiba said.

“Let me come with you,” Carly replied.

“No,” Kaiba said. “Stay here, please. I know this is asking a lot, but I’ll call you if things get too out of control.”

“Promise?” Carly asked.

“Yeah, promise,” Kaiba replied.

With that said Kaiba left.

* * *

 

_Back to the rest of the group_

“Why don’t you just leave?” Jack questioned.

“Why would I do that?” Bakura asked.

“Let’s see, because you’re presence is a major threat to our safety right now,” Duke stated.

“Now, now, that’s rather mean now isn’t it?” Bakura replied.

“Shut up you limey fruit cake,” Joey exclaimed.

“Why don’t you just leave us all alone and let us move on,” Akiza said.

“He’s not someone who’s known for doing that,” a familiar voice said.

Everyone turned to see Kaiba approaching the group.

“Hello Kaiba,” Bakura greeted. “Coming here alone I see.”

“Shut up Bakura,” Kaiba said. “Leave them alone and let these losers pass.”

“Losers?! Joey exclaimed. “Why don’t you say that to my face rich boy?”

“Joey, don’t even think about starting that nonsense now,” Mai warned.

“You’re all so pathetic,” Bakura said reaching for his sword. “I’m sure I’ll have no problem taking you all out.”

“Bakura you don’t have to do this, nothing good will come out of hurting anyone” Yugi warned.

“I’ve been pretty patient up until now, but there is something I want that all of you have been keeping from me. I figure that if I cause some sort of commotion what I want will come to me” Bakura replied while unsheathing his sword and getting into a stance.

Kaiba saw this and immediately reached for his phone and discreetly sent a text, though it wasn’t completely unnoticed.

“Kaiba, who did you text?” Yugi questioned.

“You’ll see,” Kaiba replied.

“Oh no, you didn’t,” Tea said.

“What do you expect?” Kaiba questioned. “He’s armed and dangerous.”

“Now, who should I take out first?” Bakura asked with sword now unsheathed and in his hand.

He looked at the whole group and seemed to be mulling over his options for a few minutes, no one dared move in fear that Bakura would attack, before his eyes landed on Tea.

“I think I’ll start with the King’s little girlfriend first,” Bakura declared.

He began to charge at her. The guys moved to protect her, but before Bakura could get close enough, the sword was suddenly blocked.

“Well, well, well, we finally meet again,” Bakura said.

“Yes, it looks like we do,” a voice said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Bakura got fed up with waiting and has decided do something about it. Unfortunately for those opposing him, he has decided to take the violent approach.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carly and Bakura have....issues they need to work out

Everyone had a look of shock on their faces after seeing who blocked Bakura’s sword.

“Carly?” Jack questioned.

“You had to text her?” Yugi whispered to Kaiba.

“If she didn’t show up a majority of us would be sliced up by a sword Yugi,” Kaiba replied.

“Tiger,” Bakura said to Carly.

“Dragon,” Carly replied.  “You know there are other ways to get my attention.”

“Yes, but this way is so much more fun,” Bakura replied.

“It’s only fun for you,” Carly stated. “No one else would consider harming others just for their own pleasure.”

“If it means that much to you I’ll let your friends leave peacefully,” Bakura said.

“What’s the catch?” Carly asked.

“Who said there is a catch?” Bakura countered.

“There’s always a catch with you Bakura,” Carly said. “So spit it out, what is it?

“I think you already know what the catch is,” Bakura declared.

“Alright then,” Carly said. “I’ll fight with you.”

Carly reached into a sheath that was strapped to her shoulder and pulled out a long sword. Then she looked at the others.

“Guys, get out of here,” she said.

“Carly, if you think that…” Yugi began.

“Yugi, please,” Carly cut him off.

Yugi only nodded before looking at the others.

“Come on guys, we have to get out of here,” Yugi said.

“What about Carly?” Yusei asked.

“You’re just going to leave her to fight that British psychopath?” Crow added.

“Carly can handle herself in this situation,” Joey stated. “Now let’s get out of here.”

With that said everyone went off.

* * *

 

_Meanwhile_

Carly and Bakura were going at each other like they’re lives depended on it. Swords clashing together, and punches, kicks, and jabs being made every time both fighters thought they had the chance.

“I see being away for a year hasn’t had any negative effects on your fighting,” Bakura said sweep kicking her. “Are you enjoying this Carly?” 

“Yeah, and I’m starting to think that maybe you’re getting kind of slow,” Carly declared punching him in the stomach.

“Am I really?” Bakura questioned. “I’m still standing and fighting you aren’t I?”

“Yeah, you’re the only person who can actually keep up with me,” Carly stated. “Well I don’t think you will be for much longer.”

Bakura went for her arm but she dodged him. Next he lunged at her and managed to hit her in the side.

“Come now, after all we’ve gone through all this time,” Bakura said. “You could never finish me, little sister.”

“Don’t call me that!” Carly exclaimed. “Even if it’s true, you lost all rights to call me that a long time ago. You’re the worst sibling ever.”

Carly ran at him again and punched him square in the face.

Bakura fell but he got up pretty quickly and just put his hand over the space where she punched him.

“I’m the worst sibling ever?” He questioned. “You just punched your own brother in the face.”

* * *

 

_Twenty minutes later_

Everyone was basically waiting for Carly to come back. All of them were worried but the 5Ds gang was still very confused about why Bakura wanted to fight Carly so badly.

“I still can’t believe we’re just waiting here for her,” Mina said.

“Yeah, isn’t there anything we can do?” Trudge questioned.

“You heard what Bakura said,” Tristan stated. “Do you really want to put yourselves at risk?”

“Plus, if you interfere you’ll be putting Carly in more danger,” Mai declared.

“We get that just standing around solves nothing but we’re not about to cause more danger,” Yugi stated.

“Bakura is already psychotic enough as it is,” Duke added.

A few minutes later Carly came back her sword in one hand and the other clutching the arm that held the sword. Carly was giggling like crazy though.

“Carly!” Everyone exclaimed running over to the injured knight.

“It looks like you had fun with Bakura,” Tea said.

“Yeah, I sure did,” Carly said still giggling. 

“What happened?” Yugi questioned.

“Bakura and I fought with swords, and he got me,” Carly stated.

“Woah,” Tristan said as he and Joey moved closer to Carly so they could see here arm.

“Why woah? I can’t really see how he got me; bad angle” Carly questioned.

“You can practically see the bone,” Joey declared.

“For real?” Carly asked.

Then Tea came over and smacked Carly on the head.

“Hey, what was that for?” Carly complained.

“For being stupid and almost losing your arm,” Tea declared.

“Ugh, Yugi Tea is being mean to me,” Carly said.

“Sorry Carly, I can’t help you on this one,” Yugi said.

“You people are horrible,” Carly replied.

“Yeah, sure we are,” Tea said taking hold of Carly’s uninjured arm. “Come on; let me take a look at your arm.”

She pulled Carly off to the side and Joey and Tristan followed them.

“Please tell me that you got him worse,” Joey said.

“Oh I did,” Carly said. “In fact his arm almost fell off.”

“It didn’t though?” Tristan questioned.

“No,” Carly replied.

“I’m assuming he enjoyed it as well?” Joey asked.

“Oh yes, he certainly did,” Carly giggled.

They soon returned to the group with a bandage wrapped around Carly’s arm.

“Are you going to be alright Carly?” Crow asked looking at her bandaged arm.

“Yeah, I should be,” Carly replied. “Plus, Seto’s got a team of medics who could probably stitch this thing up. Good thing I’m used to stitches.”

“Wait, you mean to say that you have injured much worse than this?” Misty asked.

“Yeah, Bakura has always liked inflicting pain,” Carly stated.

“Like you do like inflicting pain on him?” Duke countered.

“No, actually, I won’t deny that I enjoy that,” Carly said.

“Yeah, anyway, come on Carly,” Kaiba said. “We still have work to do.”

So Carly and Kaiba went off. 

“We should probably head back to the Game Shop,” Yugi declared.

“Yeah, we think we’ll probably just head back to the hotel,” Yusei stated.

“Well, we’ll probably see you all tomorrow then,” Tea said.

“Yeah, we’ll see you guys around,” Yugi said as all of them went off.

“This was definitely one of the weirdest and scariest experiences we’ve had so far in this tournament,” Leo declared.

“I’ll say,” Crow said.

“Every time we see Bakura and Carly comes by after she acts all melancholy or happy,” Akiza declared.

“It’s like her personality does a complete 180,” Jack added.

”It’s so weird,” Mina stated.

The 5Ds gang headed back toward the hotel.

* * *

 

“I really do find it difficult on occasion to believe that the two of you are siblings” Kaiba commented as he and Carly walked. “You don’t even look alike.”

The two of them were walking down one of the streets.

“I guess we look dissimilar and I do not have his accent, but I really don’t think it’s that far of a leap to say we are related” Carly replied,

“You both might have violence in common, but you are nowhere near as psychotic as he is” Kaiba said. “You really need to stop getting so excited every time you get to fight with him though. It bothers the others.”

“I can’t help it, the only other times I get to see him is when he’s doing something horrible to someone. He’s my big brother, I think I deserve to do fun things with him on occasion” Carly stated.

“That is why I said the others, not we” replied Kaiba. “I wouldn’t like being separated from Mokuba, so I respect your desire to see your brother, even if he is crazy.”

“I know, I know; you don’t have to give me the ‘Bakura is psychotic and you should be wary’ speech. I know what he is capable of better than anyone” Carly said. “I’m not naïve enough to let my guard down where he is concerned.”

“As long as you promise to be careful, where your brother is concerned, I have no complaints” Kaiba stated.

* * *

 

The next day was just another day of tournament and as usual all the teams were searching opponents. Carly had left early this morning, and although Yugi was still worried after what happened yesterday, he knew Carly was with Kaiba either looking for opponents as well or monitoring the tournament.

So Yugi was currently out looking for opponents with Joey and Mai, and of course Tristan, Tea, Duke, and Serenity were with them.

“I wonder who we should duel today,” Yugi said.

“Well whoever they are they better be prepared to lose,” Joey stated.

“Joey, don’t start getting cocky,” Mai warned.

“Yeah, that’s really going to get you in trouble someday,” Tea added.

“Hey, stay out of this Tea,” Joey said.

“Hey you,” A somewhat familiar said.

Everyone turned and they couldn’t believe who they saw.

“No way,” Tea said in disbelief. “Johnny Steps?”

“That’s right,” Johnny said. “Only this time I’m not looking for another dance battle.”

Everyone looked confused.

“I challenge the lady here to a duel,” Johnny said pointing to Mai.

Mai looked back at Joey and Yugi before looking back at Johnny Steps.

“Why not?” She said. “This will be a piece of cake.”

“Hey guys,” another voice called.

Everyone saw Carly Kaiba and Mokuba heading toward the group.

“Johnny Steps?” Carly questioned.

“Yeah, that loser’s back,” Tristan confirmed.

“Tell me he doesn’t wants to try and win a date with Tea again?” Carly said.

“No, he wants to duel Mai,” Serenity said.

“Hey everyone,” another voice called.

The gang turned to see Yusei, Leo, and Luna approaching.

“Hi guys,” Tea greeted.

“What’s going on?” Yusei questioned.

“A guy who tried to ask Tea out after she kicked his ass in DDR a few years ago just challenged Mai to a duel,” Carly stated.

“Really?” Luna asked. “That seems kinda weird.”

“Tell me about it,” Carly replied.

“I’ll still make you a deal though,” Johnny suddenly said.

“What kind of deal?” Yugi asked.

“If I win, you get my two locator cards just as the rules say,” Johnny stated. “If I win though, I get to go on a date with your cute little friend over there.”

Johnny looked at Carly. Now Carly’s expression had never changed faster. She stomped right over to Johnny looking angry, picked him up by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off of his feet. 

Yusei, Leo, and Luna just looked at the scene in shock.

“You want to reconsider that offer buddy,” Carly threatened.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry, I’m fine with just the two locator cards,” Johnny said frightened.

“Good,” Carly said dropping the dancing duelist.

“At least Bakura isn’t here,” Joey whispered to Tristan. “Johnny Steps wouldn’t be so lucky.”

“I think Bakura would kill him right on the spot,” Tristan said.

“No doubt about that” Carly commented.

“I hope you’re ready to lose blondie,” Johnny said recovering.

“Yeah, keep dreaming,” Mai said activating her duel disk.

“Let’s duel!”

“My move,” Johnny said.

**Turn 1: Johnny**

Johnny draws “Sonic Maid.” His hand is shown to have “Spirit of the Harp,” “Chorus of Sanctuary,” “Metalmorph,” “Lady of Faith,” and “Dancing Elf.” He normal summons “Spirit of the Harp” in defense position (800/2000). He ends his turn.

“Johnny used that card when he dueled Yugi a few years ago,” Tea confirmed.

“I betcha the creep’s still got the same pathetic deck too,” Joey said.

**Turn 2: Mai**

Mai draws “Grave Arm.” Her hand is shown to have “Harpie Lady,” “Gravity Bind,” “Amazoness Fighter,” Rose Whip,” and “Amazoness Archers.” She normal summons “Amazoness Fighter” in attack position (1500/1300) and sets one card before ending her turn.

**Turn 3: Johnny**

Johnny draws. He summons “Sonic Maid” in attack position (1300/900). He ends his turn.

**Turn 4: Mai**

Mai draws. She summons “Harpie Lady” in defense position (1300/1400).  Next she sets another card and ends her turn.

**Turn 5: Johnny**

Johnny draws. He has “Sonic Maid” attack “Harpie Lady,” but right as it is about to attack Mai activates one of her face down cards, “Mirror Wall.” “Sonic Maid” hits it and it loses half of its attack points (1300-750). Mai then switches “Amazoness Fighter” to attack position and has it attack “Sonic Maid,” which is destroyed. Johnny’s life points (4000->3250). Johnny ends his turn.

“It’s about time that someone lost life points,” Kaiba said.

**Turn 6: Mai**

Mai draws. She activates “Harpie’s Feather Duster” and destroys Johnny’s face down card. 

“Dammit,” Johnny said.

Next she plays “Grave Arm” which allows her to send any monster to the graveyard. She chooses “Spirit of the Harp.” Now it cannot be special summoned. Next she has “Amazoness Fighter” and “Harpie Lady” attack Johnny’s life points directly. (Johnny’s Life Points 3250->450). She ends her turn.

“One more attack and Mai wins,” Yugi stated.

“Johnny Steps is running out of moves,” Joey added.

**Turn 7: Johnny**

Johnny draws. He summons “Witch of the Black Forest” (1100/1200) and “Lady of Faith” (1100/800) in attack position next he activates “Polymerization” and fuses both of them into “Musician King” (1750/1500). He has it attack “Harpie Lady,” which is destroyed. (Mai’s Life Points 4000->3550). He ends his turn.

**Turn 8: Mai**

Mai normal summons “Dunames Dark Witch” in attack position (1800/1050). She has it attack “Musician King,” which is destroyed. Then she has “Amazoness Fighter” wipe out the rest of Johnny’s life points.

“No, I can’t believe I lost,” Johnny said.

“That’s right,” Mai said. “Now hand over the locator cards.”

“Or what?” Johnny threatened.

“Or I’ll have you and your other team members disqualified from the competition,” Kaiba declared.

“Fine,” Johnny said handing the cards to Mai.

“I don’t need to be around losers like you anyway,” Johnny said before running off.

“Losers?” Yusei questioned. “He literally just said that in front of some of Domino and Neo Domino’s greatest duelists?”

“Yeah, he’s messed up,” Carly stated.

“Come on Carly, we have opponent’s to find,” Kaiba said.

Carly and Kaiba walked off.

“What would you have done about that creep?” Carly found herself asking.

“Believe me, that creep would be dead if there weren’t witnesses,” Kaiba said.

“I knew you loved me,” Carly said.

“Yeah, whatever,” Kaiba replied.

* * *

 

_Meanwhile_

“So did you guys find any opponents yet today?” Duke asked Yusei and the twins.

“Not yet,” Yusei replied.

“You want to roam around with us?” Yugi offered.

“Sure,” Luna replied.

“What should we do now though?”  Joey asked.

“I guess we should just keep looking for opponents,” Yugi stated.

* * *

 

Kaiba and Carly where walking through the streets of downtown Domino observing fellow duelists and looking for anyone else with a duel disk that looked available to duel.

Suddenly Carly noticed a familiar and friendly face not too far in front of him; it was Mako, and he wasn’t alone. He was with a girl; she looked around the same age as Carly, only she was taller, with long bluish green way hair and blue-green eyes. She was wearing a white V-neck t-shirt, light wash denim jeans, and navy sneakers. 

“Hey Mako,” Carly called out.

Mako turned his head and smiled when he saw who it was.

“Carly, it’s good to see you,” Mako said.

Mako looked at the girl he was with. “Oh, Carly this is Melody,” he said. “She’s one of my partners in the tournament.”

“Nice to meet you Melody,” Carly greeted.

“Nice to meet you too,” Melody said.

“So what are you guys up too?” Carly asked.

“Well, we were actually just looking around for some opponents,” Mako said.

“Yeah, there are a lot of people looking for singles duels,” Melody stated. “We’ve had a lot of trouble finding a pair to duel.”

“Well Seto and I were looking for people to duel too,” Carly said.

“You know sometimes I still can’t believe that you teamed up with Kaiba,” Mako said.

“Yeah, well start believing because it happened,” Carly stated.

“Well since you’re both looking for opponents how about a doubles duel?” Melody suggested.

Carly looked at Kaiba. “Well Seto, what do you say?”

“Why not?” Kaiba replied. “This should be an easy victory.”

“Cocky as usual,” Carly commented. “Alright, we’ll duel you guys, and we’ll even let you go first.”

“Alright then,” Mako said as everyone activated their duel disks.

“Let’s duel.”

**Turn 1: Mako**

Mako draws “Umi.”. His hand is shown to contain “Amphibian Beast,” “Fortress Whale,” “Flying Fish,” “Tornado Wall,” and “Return of the Doomed.” He activates “Umi” meaning that any Fish, Sea Serpent, Thunder, and Aqua-Type monsters that are played will gain 200 attack and defense points, and any Machine and Pyro-Type Monsters will lose 200 attack and defense points. Next he normal summons “Flying Fish” in defense position which gets the power bonus (1000/700). He then ends his turn.

**Turn 2: Kaiba**

Kaiba draws “Vorse Raider.” His hand is shown to contain “Blue-Eyes White Dragon,” “Card of Demise,” “Pot of Greed,” “Kaiser Sea Horse,” and “Attack Guidance Barrier.” He normal summons “Kaiser Sea Horse” in defense position, which gets the field power bonus (1900/1850). He then sets one card and ends his turn.

**Turn 3: Melody**

Melody draws “Gemini Spark.” Her hand is shown to contain “Gagaga Magician,” “Mystic Tomato,” “Waboku,” “Safe Zone,” and “Miracle Flipper.” She normal summons “Mystic Tomato” in defense position (1400/1100). Next she sets one card before ending her turn.

**Turn 4: Carly**

Carly draws “Royal Decree.” Her hand is shown to contain “Minevra, Lightsworn Maiden,” “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter,” “Hymn of Life,” “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast,” and “Mirror Force.” She normal summons “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter” in defense position (200/100). She then sets on card and ends her turn.

“Wow,” a familiar voice suddenly said. “Carly and Kaiba are dueling Mako.”

Carly turned to see that the whole gang including Yusei and Jack’s groups had shown up.

“Hello friends,” Mako greeted. “You’re just in time. The duel was just about to get started up.”

“Yeah, we can finally attack now that everyone’s had a turn,” Carly said.

“Well, I just hope that you two are ready,” Melody said.

“I’m always ready,” Kaiba said.

“Well, it’s not every day that I get duel Seto Kaiba,” Mako said.

**Turn 5: Mako**

Mako draws. He switches “Flying Fish” to attack mode and it attacks and destroys “Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter.”  Mako ends his turn.

**Turn 6: Kaiba**

Kaiba draws. He switches “Kaiser Sea Horse” to attack mode and has it destroy “Flying Fish.” (Mako’s Life Points: 4000->3100). Kaiba ends his turn.

**Turn 7: Melody**

Melody draws. She switches “Mystic Tomato” into attack mode. She orders it to attack Carly directly. Carly activates her face down card though, “Mirror Force.” Melody’s monster’s attack is reflected right back at it destroying it (Melody’s Life Points: 4000->2600). Melody summons “Crusader of Endymion” in defense mode (1900/1200); next she sets a card and ends her turn.

**Turn 8: Carly**

Carly draws. She summons “Jain, Lightsworn Paladin” in attack mode (1800/1200).  Next she activates “Soul Recharge,” with this card she discards one Lightsworn monster from her hand and draws two cards, and discards the top two cards from her deck and places them in the graveyard.  She orders her monster to attack Melody’s monster, but Melody activates her face down card “Wobaku,” and because of it she receives no damage and her monster is unharmed. Carly ends her turn.

Suddenly Carly looked at the alley on her right side not too far behind them with her peripheral vision.

“I know you’re there,” she said looking at the alley way.  “Come out.”

Suddenly everyone saw someone step out of the alley, and no one could believe who it was, Bakura!

“Wow, you really are good,” he said to Carly.

 “I thought you wouldn’t consider showing your face after what happened yesterday,” Joey said.

“Nice bandages Bakura,” Tristan added.

Bakura looked at his completely bandaged right arm. “Oh yes, it seems that Carly did more damage to me than I thought,” Bakura said proudly.

“Don’t act like you hated it,” Carly stated.

“I never denied that I enjoyed it,” Bakura replied.

“Honestly Bakura you are such a masochist,” Tea said.

“Yes, while I do admit that I enjoyed the pain, I think I enjoy delivering the pain even more,” Bakura declared.

“So you’re a sadist too,” Mai said.

“I’m not the only one here who enjoys receiving and inflicting pain” Bakura stated all the while never taking his eyes away from Carly.

The 5Ds gang couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“What the heck is a sadist and a masochist?” Leo asked.

“Believe me you two, you don’t need to know what it means,” Akiza said.

“I can’t believe you guys are talking about this,” Mina said.

Jack didn’t say anything. He just had a very angry expression on his face and he was clenching his fists.

“If you guys don’t mind, I think we have a duel still going on that Seto and I are trying to focus on,” Carly said.

**Turn 10: Mako**

Mako draws. He summons “The Legendary Fisherman” which gains the power bonus (2050/1800). Since “Umi” is on the field it Mako’s monster is not affected by spell cards and cannot be destroyed by another monster. It destroys Kaiba’s “Kaiser Sea Horse” (Kaiba’s Life Points: 4000->3850). Mako ends his turn.

**Turn 11: Kaiba**

Kaiba draws. He summons “Hyozanryu” in attack mode (2100/2800). He orders it to attack Melody’s monster and it destroys it. Kaiba ends his turn.

**Turn 12: Melody**

Melody draws. She summons “Marauding Captain” in attack position (1200/400). Thanks to its effect she can summon a level 4 or lower monster from her hand. She summons “Allure Queen LV3 in defense mode (500/500). She ends her turn.

**Turn 13: Carly**

Carly draws. Suddenly there was a huge smirk on her face.

“Why does she look so happy all of a sudden?” Yusei questioned.

“She has the card,” Bakura simply stated.

The 5Ds gang just looked at him.

“You’re seriously still here?” Crowe asked.

“And what do you mean by the card?” Trudge added.

Carly activates “Charge of the Light Brigade.” This allows her send the top 3 cards of her deck to the graveyard and adds one level 4 or lower Lightsworn monster to her hand. She chooses to add “Dawn Knight” in attack mode (1400/1200). Since she has more than four monsters in her graveyard with different names she can summon her most power monster. She special summons “Judgment Dragon” in attack mode (3000/2600). Carly uses its effect and sends all other cards on the field to the graveyard  at the cost of 1000 life points causing everyone to lose life points (Kaiba’s Life Points: 3850->17500) (Carly’s Life Points: 4000->2600) (Mako’s Life Points: 3100-1050) (Melody’s Life Points: 2600->1400). Then she has “Judgment Dragon” attack Mako directly, wiping out the rest of his life points.

“Carly and Kaiba won,” Serenity confirmed.

“How did Bakura know that ‘Judgment Dragon’ was the card that she drew though?” Akiza asked.

“He just knows her well enough,” Joey declared. “Don’t you, you limey?”

When there was no response though everyone looked to see that Bakura was gone.

“Does he do that a lot?” Crowe asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Tea said.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally get a look into how Bakura thinks.... he's not the nicest of people. He also gets to show off his new deck.

_Bakura’s POV_

Just another day in this pathetic city, wake up, get dressed, eat, and wander around looking for opponents to duel when I see the chance. Another day in Kaiba’s tournament, I really grow tired of it, I really don’t need to be looking for someone to duel at the moment, but I need to collect those locator cards so I can move onto the finals, because I know she’ll make it to the finals, Carly. I really miss her. I finally got to see her a while back, of course it was a lot more fighting than talking, there was a lot of yelling, and she did punch me in the face, not that I have a bruise or anything, she can hit really hard though.

Despite all the violence though, I was so happy to see my little sister. I hadn’t seen her for a whole year, granted that wasn’t the longest amount of time I have gone without seeing her though. Our parents got divorced when we were ten, our mother got me and our dad got Carly.

Our mom was of Japanese descent, and our dad is a British archaeologist. Since I ended up staying with our mom I took her last name, and Carly kept our dad’s. She would come to stay with us now and again when our dad had to go on an archaeological dig for an extended period of time. It wasn’t until we started high school that our parents agreed that she needed a stable place to stay so her grades didn’t get messed up. So she officially moved in with me and our mom, and that’s how we met Yugi and his bloody little friends.

Actually, we’ve known Yugi and his friends’ way longer than that. It’s hard to explain, but we’re all part of this strange cycle, all of us except for Joey’s younger sister Serenity, Mokuba, and that pretty boy Duke Devlin that is. We’ve been living for thousands of years, it all started with Atlantis, yes, the lost city of Atlantis as many would call it now, then, there was ancient Egypt, then England during the Tudor dynasty, and now here we are today. A cruel and powerful god chose all of us to be part of this cycle.

Living for all this time does sound crazy, but we all have certain positions like a court, and with each position each of us have different powers. For example, Yugi is the king, so he is the leader; his girlfriend Tea is the healer so, well what she can do should be obvious; Joey is the general, so in addition to being strong, he’s a master strategist; his girlfriend Mai is the oracle so our god sends her visions; Tristan is the spymaster, so he can tell what move an enemy is going to make before he even makes it; Kaiba is the priest, which gives him the ability to speak with our god; me, I’m the assassin, so I’m invulnerable to any kind of damage. Yes, Carly did almost completely cut my arm off the other day, but it healed quite quickly. Finally there’s my dear little sister, she’s the knight, so every sense, and every muscle in her body is enhanced. She’s stronger and faster than any human being in existence.

Having this power comes with a price though, in each life time none of us has lived to see 30, something always happens, when one of us dies the cycle starts and we all die by the end of the day. I guess the only good thing about all these life times I can even think of is that Carly is always reincarnated.

Reaching into my pocket I pulled out my cell phone and looked at my wall paper. It’s a picture of me and Carly from high school. It seemed so long ago, I remember those times, when we could actually be happy around each other. I miss getting to do sibling things with her so much. When she was gone all of last year it drove me crazy. She was in Neo Domino surrounded by a different group of people. I met them a while back. There’s something strange about a lot of them. I should find out more about them.

“Whoa, she’s a hot one,” a deep voice said behind me.

I turn around and see a tall bulky man, probably in his early 20s, with spiky black hair and brown eyes standing behind me, He’s wearing a black button down shirt, blue low-slung jeans, and black sneakers.

“That happens to be my sister,” I warn.

“Well she’s hot,” he says. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know her.”

“Don’t talk about her like that,” I hissed.

“Hey, take it easy limey,” he rudely replied.

“You’ve no right to talk about her like that,” I declared.

“Yeah, what you gonna do about it?” He asked.

I looked and saw he had a duel disk attached to his left arm.

“I challenge you to a duel,” I said.

“And what do I get if I win?” He asked.

“My locator cards, for a start,” I replied.

“I don’t think that’s enough,” he said. “How about this, if I win you introduce me to that hot sister of yours.”

“And if I win?” I questioned.

“You get my locator cards and I’ll leave you alone and I won’t go anywhere near your sister,” he said.

“Ok, but let’s make sure you keep that promise,” I said.

Then if almost as if it came out of nowhere a purple fog surrounded both of us.

“What the hell!” The man said.

“We’re going to up the stakes and play a shadow game,” I say.

“What the hell is a shadow game?” He yelled.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” I say.

“Fine, but I sure hope your sister is looking forward to a date with Tony Geneon,” he said.

“Let’s duel!”

“I’ll go first then,” Tony said.

**Turn 1: Tony**

Tony draws “Burning Skull Head.” His hand contains “Uni-Zombie,” “Book of Life,” “Creature Swap,” “Pyramid Turtle,” and “Goblin Zombie.” He normal summons “Goblin Zombie” in defense position (1100/1050). Then he sets one card and ends his turn.

**Turn 2: Bakura**

Bakura draws “Infernity Mirage.” His hand contains “Infernity Avenger,” “The Dark Creator,” “Soul Charge,” “Infernity Barrier,” and “Armageddon Knight.” He normal summons “Armageddon Knight,” in defense position (1400/1200). He then sets one card and ends his turn.

**Turn 3: Tony**

Tony draws.  He summons “Uni-Zombie” in attack position (1300/0). He orders it to attack Bakura’s “Armageddon Knight.” It is destroyed but since it is in defense mode Bakura loses no life points. Tony ends his turn.

**Turn 4: Bakura**

Bakura draws. He normal summons “King’s Knight” in attack position (1600/1400). Next he activates his face down card “Chain Energy.” In order to normal summon, special summon, or activate any of the cards in their hands’ now each player needs to pay 500 life points per monster. Bakura pays 500 life points and has “King’s Knight” attack “Uni-Zombie” which is destroyed since it is weaker.  (Bakura’s Life Points 4000->3500) (Tony’s Life Points 4000->3700). Bakura sets one card and ends his turn.

**Turn 5: Tony**

Tony draws. He pays 500 life points and normal summons “Shutendoji” in attack position (1500/800). Then he activates his face-down card “Zombie World.” Every card in each player’s graveyard becomes a zombie type monster and cards cannot be tribute unless they are zombie-type monsters. He ends his turn. (Tony’s Life Points 3700->3200).

**Turn 6: Bakura**

Bakura draws. He summons “Infernity Necromancer” in defense position (0/2000). Then he ends his turn. (Bakura’s Life Points 3500->3000).

**Turn 7: Tony**

Tony draws. He plays “Defense Block” in order to force “Infernity Necromancer” into attack mode. Next he summons “Zombie Mammoth” in attack position (1900/0). He orders it to attack “Infernity Necromancer.” Bakura activates his face down card “Mirror Force” directing the attack and destroying “Zombie Mammoth.” (Tony’s Life Points 3200->800). Tony ends his turn.

**Turn 8: Bakura**

Bakura draws pays 500 life points and summons “Infernity Knight” in attack position (1400/400). He has it attack Tony directly wiping up the rest of his life points.

“No, I can’t believe I lost,” Tony yelled.

“Yes, know hand over the locator cards,” I declared.

He took his two locator cards out of his pocket and handed to me.

“Alright, you win,” Tony said. “I won’t ever mention your sister again.”

“Oh no you won’t,” I said sinisterly. “You won’t be seeing anybody to mention in the Shadow Realm.”

“What?!” Tony said in disbelief.

My Millennium Ring began to glow and Tony began to scream. Then he stopped just like that and his body fell and hit the pavement.

That will teach him to talk about my sister with such disrespect. I should get out of here before someone sees and has time to get suspicious. What was I going to do before all of this happened? Oh right, find out who those people from Neo Domino are. I suppose off to the library it is then.

* * *

_In the library_

Well, I guess the best place to start for a search would be in Neo Domino of course. Let’s see, “Yusei Fudo beats “King of Riding Duels.” I notice those two, Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas, so the Aussie was considered the “King of Riding Duels.” So it’s like a Yugi and Kaiba conflict. What of the rest of them though. The police department should have information on anything that’s happened there in the past year. Good thing they invented incognito mode for computers, that and I learned how to hack.

Now let’s see what’s on the database from last year. Arcadia movement, Dark Signers. Dark Signers, they’d be killed and somehow revived by a strange force. Dark Signer insignia’s reported all over Neo Domino and Satellite. Lizard, wait, I saw that dark-haired girl, she was a Dark Signer? Giant, I noticed that guy with that group too, hummingbird…Carly?! Carly died and became a Dark Signer?! How can she have not of told me any of this or any of them for that matter?! There is no way that I’m not confronting her about this, better wait until later to do it though.

I exited out of the internet and exited the library. I suppose I should wait this out at home until it’s an appropriate time to confront Carly.

* * *

 

_Outside the Game Shop, 5:00 AM_

Okay, so maybe I could come by a few hours earlier, but hardly anybody is up this early besides a few joggers, but they’re so focused on their exercise they’ll never notice me, plus, I’m too good at this to get caught by anyone. I ran over to the nearby drain pipe and climbed up to it. Once I reached the ledge near Carly’s window I steadily eased myself onto it. I slowly scaled over to her window and lifted it open and slipped into her room.

I looked around to see all the weapons that were hanging on the wall, honestly it looks more like an armory than a bedroom in here, but I’m not surprised. It is Carly after all. Before I can have another thought though I’m being pinned to the ground, and I can’t break free.

“What the hell are you doing here?” A voice questions.

Of course it’s Carly who’s pinning me down.

“You died,” I said.

Carly was silent for a while so I spoke again.

“You died and you didn’t tell me,” I stated angrily.

“When was I going to tell you?” Carly asked. “I didn’t see you for a whole year, and every time I attempt to see you we’re fighting because you’re threatening the others.”

“Do the others know?” I asked.

“Why do you care?” Carly countered. “And how did you find out.”

“That doesn’t matter, and don’t say I don’t care,” I said angrily. “You’re still my sister Carly.”

“Yeah, well like I said, you haven’t been the best brother lately, Florence.”

“Never, say that word again,” I yelled.

“Why?” Carly asked.

“You know I hate being called that,” I replied.

“Well, it is your name,” she said. “You know, the one Mom and Dad gave you when we were born.”

“Mom and Dad hated me,” I said.

“Yeah right, because they totally knew you were the horrible person that you are today,” she said sarcastically.

Suddenly the door to the room opened, and standing there, in his pajamas was Yugi.

He looked at both of us in confusion.

“What are you doing here Bakura?” He asked in shock.

“Did you know she was dead?” I questioned angrily.

“Yes,” he replied. “She told me when she first got here.”

“He’s mad because nobody told him,” Carly stated.

“Mad…I’m more than mad that nobody told me you were dead Tigress,” I said on the verge of screaming.

Suddenly my face was being pushed into the wood floor.

“Shut up Dragon,” Carly said. “You want the whole neighborhood to hear you?”

My response was muffled so I knew she nor Yugi wouldn’t be able to understand me anyway.

“Seriously, why do you two call each other that?” Yugi asked.

“Do you know how annoying it is that we have different names in every life time?” Carly questioned. “It’s especially annoying when you have a sibling.”

“Yeah…well, I’m going to go back to bed,” Yugi said. “You two do whatever you have to, just keep it down, and don’t wake up Grandpa.”

Then I heard the door being shut.

“I’ll let you go of your head, but only if you promise not to yell,” I heard Carly say.

“I won’t yell, I promise,” I said, voice still muffled.

Carly’s hold on me loosened and I was able to lift my head and turn around so I could look at her without crooning my neck. I noticed something strange.

“Why are you wearing that bandage?” I asked pointing to her left arm.

“Tea put them there,” she stated. “I just forgot to remove it. I see your arm is completely fine.”

“Well, I heal quickly to remember?” I say. “Anyway, can you please get off me now?”

She gives me a warning look.

“I’m not going to attack, I swear,” I say.

Slowly she releases her hold on me and I stand up. i notice then that like Yugi she's wearing pajamas, a tank top and shorts, and looks exhausted.

“So…, what really happened in Neo Domino?” I asked.

“It’s going to take a lot more than that to get me to talk about what happened with the Dark Signers,” Carly stated. “And it’s five in the morning.”

“So I’m guessing that’s a no?” I said.

“Of course it’s a no,” she said annoyed. “Now, if you don’t mind, I was sleeping before.”

“Okay,” I say and make my way back to the window. “I guess it’s until we meet again Tigress.”

“Yeah, bye Dragon,” she said while climbing back into bed.

Then I jumped out the window and ran back down the sidewalk.

Dammit, how am I going to get her to tell me what happened? I’m so mad right now. I think torturing someone right now is in order, but who? Well, I guess I can go find a jogger, yeah I think that’s what I’ll do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bakura's name change is a reference to Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged. If you haven't seen it yet you should really go check it out. We thought the name change was warranted since we thought it might sound odd, since they are siblings, that Carly has a European name while Bakura has a Japanese one. His name isn't going to come up often anyway so not much will change.


	14. Chapter 14

A few hours later after Bakura’s departure from the Game Shop Yugi and Carly woke up and headed downstairs.

“Morning Carly,” Yugi said.

“Morning,” Carly said drowsily.

“Bakura didn’t keep you up all night did he?” Yugi asked.

“No,” Carly replied. “He left about five minutes after you went back to your room.”

“You two didn’t break anything did you?” Yugi questioned.

“No we didn’t,” Carly stated. “Now what’s for breakfast?”

“You’re decision,” Yugi stated. “It’s your turn to make it after all.”

“It is?” Carly asked. “Oh wait, never mind you’re right it is. How do you feel about bacon and eggs?”

“Sounds good to me,” Yugi replied. “I’ll be in the other room. I’m gonna check out what’s on the news.”

“Okay,” Carly said heading into the kitchen to make breakfast.

So Yugi went into the living room and turned on the TV. When the news came on he was a bit shocked to see what the headline at the bottom of the TV screen said.

“Carly, come in here for a second please,” Yugi said.

“What is it?” Carly said walking in. She took one look at the TV screen and sat down next to Yugi. A female reporter was standing in front of the scene of paramedics lifting a stretcher covered by a white sheet, but a hand was visible.

“A jogger was discovered earlier this on lying on the sidewalk near the city square around 5:30 this morning. The young man appearing to be in his late 20s, was found lying on the ground in what appeared to be a catatonic like state, body completely stiff, completely blank facial expression, and fully dilated pupils, but a local shop owner who found him while on his way to open his business soon realized that the man had no pulse and was not breathing, after calling 911 paramedics arrived on the scene and made several attempts to revive him for nearly half an hour but not no avail. Paramedics are suggesting that a heart attack could be the cause of death, but some of them are saying they’re stumped, saying that the man was cold as ice when they examined him. How is it that such a psychically fit young man just dropped dead on what appeared to be a normal morning workout routine?”

“Of course he’d pull of something like this,” Carly stated , looking sad. “He would do something exactly like this.”

“Carly, you can’t blame yourself for any of this,” Yugi said. “I won’t allow you too.”

“I know Yugi,” Carly said with a sad smile on her face. “I don’t. I’m gonna get back to making breakfast now.”

* * *

 

_Noon_

Joey was heading to the Game Shop to hang out with Yugi; okay and to see if Grandpa had any new cards. There were still a lot of people to beat in Kaiba’s tournament before they got to the finals. It was actually rare for him to be walking around by himself these days, usually he had Serenity or Mai, or normally the whole group with him. It was kind of nice to be alone to think about things sometimes though.

“Come on,” a familiar voice said up ahead. “I only want to know what you know about the Dark Signers.”

Joey looked up ahead to see Bakura, talking to one of the members of the 5Ds gang, it was Kalin, he was one of the two Carly had told them about who had become a Dark Signer last year. What is Bakura doing talking to him? It didn’t look like it was a normal chit-chat.

“Why do you want to know about them so badly?” Kalin questioned.

“I just do,” Bakura replied.

“Alright Bakura, what kind of trouble are you causing this time?” Joey said approaching the scene.

Bakura recognized his voice and turned to look at him.

“Go away Joey,” he said. “This is none of your business.”

“I think, you’re harassing Kalin for information,” Joey confirmed. “And you have a reason for everything, so you don’t simply want to know about the Dark Signers for the sake of knowing about them.”

“Carly was one of them,” Bakura confirmed. “I think I should have a right to know more about.”

“Well, you finally found out then,” Joey said.

“Yes, and I’m quite upset nobody told me,” Bakura declared.

“When were we supposed to tell you psycho?” Joey asked. “Whenever we see you you’re either trying to kill us, figure out where Carly is, or torturing innocent civilians.”

“Well, I want information, and I’ll get it in whatever way I see fit,” Bakura declared.

“Well, I think Carly would be very interested in hearing about this,” Joey stated.

Bakura glared at Joey now.

“You know she wouldn’t be too happy if she found out you were doing this,” Joey said.

Bakura paused for a second, then he turned to look at Joey.

“You win this time Joey,” Bakura said. “Believe this though, I won’t stop until I find the information I want.”

Then Bakura walked away.

Once he was out of sight Joey looked at Kalin.

“You okay there Kalin?” Joey asked.

“Yeah, seriously why does he want to know so badly about the Dark Signers?” Kalin questioned.

“Let’s just say when it comes to the topic of Carly he doesn’t like being the last person to know about things,” Joey stated. “There was another one of you guys who was a Dark Signer too right?”

“Yeah,” Kalin replied. “Misty was one too.”

“Well, both of you watch yourselves,” Joey stated. “He’s right about one thing, he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. Chances are he’ll try and get information from her too, same with the rest of your group actually. Whatever you guys do, don’t tell him anything.”

“I think you guys have told us that enough to get the message across,” Kalin replied. “I’ll pass the message along though.”

“Good, well, see you around,” Joey said walking off.

“Man this place is almost as bad as Satellite sometimes,” Kalin said before walking on.

* * *

 

_Later, Kaiba Corp_

Carly and Kaiba were heading out to get some lunch and to search for dueling opponents. What they didn’t expect was for Bakura to be standing only a few feet in front of them.

“What do you want now?” Kaiba asked coldly.

“Carly, I just want to know what happened with the Dark Signers,” Bakura said. “And I’m not leaving until I find out.”

“Get out of here Bakura,” Kaiba said.

“No,” Carly suddenly said. “It’s fine Seto.”

She looked at Bakura.

“You really want to know what happened.” She said looking Bakura directly in the eye. “I dueled someone and lost, I fell to my death from the top floor of an extremely tall building by being forced out a window, but an Earthbound Immortal brought me back as a Dark Signer. I dueled one of the Signers and nearly killed them, but I snapped out of it in the middle of the duel. The Earthbound Immortal didn’t like that and it took me over completely, and in the end I took a dive and had to use the last bit of me that was left to make sure I didn’t win the duel....And you know the cost of losing a dark duel is very similar to the cost of losing a shadow duel. I was resurrected shortly after, but I didn’t remember anything. Now I do remember, a few days after I got home actually,  it all came to me at once.”

“You know our God probably did that so you’d at least be around people who could keep you from doing anything when you remembered,” Kaiba stated.

“I know that, but still…,” Carly said. “ I spent three days in bed, and I couldn’t move, and now I can’t stand the site of the color orange, no big deal.”

Bakura looked shocked, and it probably just wasn’t because Carly just told him all of this, but because she said all of this with a smile on her face.

“So now you know,” Carly said.

Bakura looked at her for a few seconds before turning back around and running off.

Once he was out of sight Kaiba spoke.

“Stop that,” he said to her.

“What are you talking about,” Carly said before dropping the smile.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Kaiba said.

* * *

 

_A few hours later_

Everyone was at the Game Shop getting ready; they decided to check out a club downtown, even Serenity was coming with them, something that Joey was very hesitant about letting happen at first, but Mai convinced him several times that she would be fine. Joey of course had told everyone about his encounter with Bakura, which of course worried everyone, but what worried everyone even more was that Yugi had gotten Carly to tell him that she and Kaiba had an encounter with Bakura. She kept smiling about it though and telling Yugi that is wasn’t a big deal.

“You know guys, if it isn’t bad enough what happened today we also need to keep in mind that we still don’t know who our current enemies are,” Tristan stated.

“Yeah, all we know is that we always have someone out there who wants to kill us” Tea stated.

“Yeah, well, that’s the downer of being us,” Carly stated.

“Why can’t we just sick Carly on people like we used to?” Joey questioned.

“Ah, simpler times,” Carly replied.

* * *

 

An hour later the gang (including Kaiba) was at the club, all of them except for Mai had to have their hands stamped so bartenders knew that they were too young to be served. Tea practically dragged Yugi onto the dance floor, and Kaiba went to stand by the bar and observe everything, he wasn’t very social with anyone after all except for Carly. Carly, Tristan, Duke, Joey, Mai, and Serenity went to find a table to sit at they noticed some familiar faces; Crow, Kalin, Misty, and Yusei.

“Hey strangers, long time no see,” she said.

“Hey guys,” Crow said. “What brings you all here?”

“We just wanted a night to let loose,” Mai said. “What about you guys?”

“I heard about it from someone on a walk earlier today,” Misty stated. “So I suggested that we check it out.”

“Is your whole group here?” Tristan asked.

“No,” Yusei replied. “Trudge and Mina are back at the hotel with the twins.”

“Where’s Akiza?” Carly asked.

“She’s somewhere on the dance floor,” Kalin replied. “And Jack’s somewhere over by the bar.”

“Speaking of which,” Misty said. “I think I’m going to check out the dance floor.”

First she looked at Carly’s group.  “Nice running into you guys.” “

“Carly, just warning you now, look who’s here,” Tristan said looking across the dance floor.

It was Bakura and he was just looking around he made eye contact with Carly briefly just then he moved and made his way into the crowd for moving bodies.

“I don’t care,” Carly stated. “It’s a crowded place. He wouldn’t make a scene here.”

Only Bakura began making his way toward the group until he was finally face-to-face with Carly.

“Hi Tigress,” he greeted his little sister.

“I’m not in the mood to talk you Dragon,” Carly stated, looking away form him. “Now please leave.”

Bakura looked at her disappointedly for a few seconds before turning around and making his way into the dance floor.

Carly looked at the former Enforcers. “You guys want to come with us?” She asked “We’re going to go get a table.”

“Sure,” Yusei replied. "Carly, are you...".

"I just want one night to relax," Carly interrupted.

* * *

 

A few minutes later the group was sitting at a large table talking and drinking flat soda, except for Mai who was on her second tequila sunrise and Kalin, who was drinking a beer.

“So have you guys been here before?” Yusei asked over the loud pounding music.

“No, it was around when we were in high school, but we never had time to come here,” Carly stated.

“How come none of you are dancing?” Kalin asked randomly.

“I don’t dance,” Carly replied.

“How come?” Yusei asked.

“Just not into it,” Carly said.

“She’s right about that,” a familiar voice said.

Carly turned around to see Bakura standing in front of their table.

“I mean it Dragon,” Carly said giving Bakura a serious look. “I don’t want to talk.”

“You heard her Bakura,” Tristan said.

“Yeah, beat it,” Joey said.

Bakura gave Joey and Tristan a glare before heading over toward the bar.

"Is it a bad thing that I kinda like that he keeps trying?" Carly asked Joey and Tristan.

"Probably," and "Definitely," were their respective answers

“Hey guys,” another voice said approaching the table.

“Hey Akiza,” Carly greeted the pink-haired Signer.

“Man, this place is cool,” Akiza said. “I haven’t let loose like this in a long time. Why aren’t you guys dancing though?”

“I just don’t dance,” Carly said.

“We don’t really feel like it,” Tristan said.

“Come on,” Akiza said. “I’m not leaving until at least one of you come and dance with me.”

“If that’s gonna be the case, then I’ll check it out with you,” Yusei said. “Kalin, Crow, you coming?”

“No, I think I’m gonna go get another drink,” Kalin said getting up and heading over to the bar.

“I think I’m just gonna hang here Yusei,” Crow said. “Go ahead though.”

With that said Yusei disappeared somewhere into the crowd on the dance floor.

“Say Joey,” Serenity said looking toward her older brother.

Only she was met with the site of Joey and Mai in a full-blown make out session.  

“Ugh, them and their public displays of affection,” Carly said.

“Okay, the dance floor actually sounds like a good place to be right now,” Serenity said.

“I’ll come with you,” Crow found himself saying.

“Okay”, Serenity said blushing a little.

Then they disappeared onto the dance floor.

“Is she going to be alright?” Duke asked.

"Yeah, Crow’s a good guy, he won’t try anything,” Carly said. “Tristan, Duke, I say we go find the others.”

“I agree with you,” Tristan said. “Anything is better than watching these two make out.” 

So they continued on. It wasn’t that hard for them to find some of the others, Kaiba was still by the bar, and Jack and Kalin were there as well.

“Still being antisocial Seto?” Carly asked.

“Shut up Carly,” Seto replied.

“Actually Jack and I were just talking to Kaiba about the tournament,” Kalin said.

“What about it?” Carly asked.

“I was asking Kaiba if he’s even driven a duel runner before,” Jack stated.

“Not outside the lab,” Carly stated. “He’s driven a motorcycle though.”

“You two better not start arguing over who would win and turbo duel,” a feminine voice stated.

Yugi and Tea approached the group.

“Where have you guys been?” Yugi asked.

“We were sitting with Joey and Mai, but they started making out,” Carly stated. “And Serenity is now somewhere on the dance floor with Crow.”

“Yeah, and we didn’t feel like sitting there and watching,” Tristan said.

“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Kaiba said to Carly.

“What do you expect?” Carly said, grabbing his arm. “You work too much.”

“Yeah Kaiba, lighten up a bit,” Tea said.

“You should lighten up sometimes too Jack,” Kalin said.

“Yeah, you never look like you’re having any fun,” Carly stated.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jack questioned.

“There you guys are,” Joey said as he and Mai approached the group.

“Where’d you two go?” Mai asked.

“Sorry, we didn’t feel like watching you two make out,” Carly said sarcastically.

“Yeah, whatever,” Mai replied.

“Where’s my sister?” Joey questioned.

“She’s on the dance floor with Crow,” Tristan said.

“What?!” Joey exclaimed.

“Joey, relax, Serenity can handle herself,” Mai said.

“She’s fine Joey,” Carly said. “Crow’s not stupid.”

“Hey guys,” a familiar voice suddenly said.

As almost if on cue Serenity was walking toward the group with Crow.

“How’s the dance floor?” Carly asked.

“Getting too crowded,” Serenity said.

“Yeah, that’s why we had to get out,” Crow said. “Plus, I need to go find Yusei.”

“Isn’t he still out there with Akiza?” Kalin asked.

“Right, meaning I need to go back in there and find him,” Crow said looking at the dance floor.

He looked at Serenity. “Thanks for the dance Serenity.” Then he looked at the others. “See you guys around.”

Once he was gone Serenity looked at her brother who looked like he wanted to hurt someone about now.

“Joey knock it off,” she told her brother. “We were just dancing.”

“Well, if you’ll all excuse me I’m going to make a trip to the rest room,” Carly said.

“I’ll go with you,” Mai said.

“Me too,” Serenity added.

“Yeah, I’m coming too,” Tea said.

“Why do girls always go to the bathroom in a group?” Tristan asked.

“We just do,” Tea replied. “Anyway, we’ll be right back.” As soon as they left Duke looked at the rest of Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba.

“Bakura’s here,” he warned.

“Yeah, she’s acting like she’s not concerned though,” Tristan added.

* * *

 

The girls made their way toward the rest rooms. Suddenly they saw something or someone that made them stop, Bakura. Normally since this place was so populated they would just go tell the guys and try to ignore him, as Carly had been doing all night, but it’s what he was doing that made them stop and stare.

He had his arms all over some random red-headed chick and was in the middle of a make out session. Carly dropped her drink, causing the glass to break, catching the attention of the guys who were in still in the girls’ line of sight. They saw what was happening as well, and now they were very worried about Carly.

She had already run right passed them with the girls following her and Tristan and Duke close on their heels. Once they were gone Yugi then looked at Joey and Kaiba. They seemed to understand what he was thinking because they just looked at each other briefly and nodded before going over to where they saw Bakura, Joey grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pinned him against the wall, causing the red-head that he was making out with only seconds before to run away in fear. Then both Joey and Kaiba proceeded to punch Bakura several times until he was slumped against the wall.

Jack and Kalin just looked confused and shocked about what was happening around them.

“What is this all about?” Jack questioned.

“Sorry, you guys had to see that,” Yugi said. “But Bakura’s sunken to a whole new level. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and check on Carly.”

* * *

 

Yugi went to go find the others. He found them in a corner by one of the back exits. Carly was on the ground and Serenity was giving her a hug while Mai, Tea, Tristan, and Duke tried their best to offer words of comfort.

“Serenity, get off of me please,” Carly said.

“Carly, it’s gonna be okay,” Tea stated.

“Yeah, he was just being an asshole,” Duke stated.

“Everything’s gonna be fine,” Mai added.

Carly leaned against the wall and scrunched her face, trying to prevent any tears that she could feel welling up from escaping her eyes.

“I don’t care,” she kept repeating.

Soon after Kaiba and Joey came back and they just looked at Yugi.

“Alright guys break it up,” Yugi said looking at the others who were still trying to comfort Carly.

“Carly,” he said looking at her. “We’re going home.”

She looked at him and nodded. He helped her up and put his arm around her shoulder. She slumped against his side as he helped her walk to the exit.

* * *

 

_1:00 a.m., Two hours later_

Duke, Tristan, and Joey were all standing in the corner of Duke’s game shop.

“How long do we have to wait here?” Tristan complained.

“You heard what Yugi told us,” Joey stated. “Until something happens.”

“How do we know it will even happen though?” Duke asked.

“Believe me, it will happen,” Joey said.

Then they heard a noise.

“Looks, like that time would be know,” Tristan stated.

* * *

 

Carly was in her bed asleep, but it wasn’t the best. The image of seeing her brother making out with a random girl was haunting her mind. Suddenly she was awoken by the sound of something hitting her window.

She got out of the bed and went over to the window to see what was going on. She realized it was Bakura throwing pebbles at her window. Going over to one of her many sword racks she grabbed a Jai sword and a Changdao sword. Next she went over to the window and opened it. She moved to sit on the windowsill and threw the Jai sword at Bakura’s head but he caught it and he began to run off. Carly jumped from the windowsill with the other sword and followed after Bakura.

Joey, Tristan, and Duke, who saw the whole thing, chased after them while staying a good distance behind them.

* * *

 

A few minutes later Bakura held led Carly to the woods behind the park he stopped and looked at his sister.

“You have a lot of nerve showing yourself after what you did tonight Dragon,” Carly said angrily.

“Well, I had to get your attention Tigress,” Bakura said.

“Don’t call me that!” Carly yelled. “You dealt a low blow tonight, and you don’t deserve to call me that after what you did.”

Carly charged at him with her sword but Bakura only blocked it with the sword she had given him. They began fighting, or in both their cases it was just a lot of blocking. One would eventually sweep the other’s leg occasionally, but they both recovered quite quickly.

“Don’t you think you’re overthinking all of this a little bit?” Bakura asked.

“No, I don’t,” Carly stated. “You were the one making out with a random girl.”

Meanwhile, Crow, Yusei, and Akiza were walking by the park on their way back from the club, Jack, Kalin, and Misty were already back at the hotel, having left the club half an hour before them. They heard the noises of what sounded like some kind of struggle so they followed them. They minute they saw what was happening, they hid a good distance away from the scene and watched it all from behind some trees.

“I can’t believe it,” Akiza stated. “They’re fighting each other again.”

“What did you expect?” Crowe asked. “After what happened to Kalin today he was bound to go looking for Carly again.”

“I have a feeling he led her here though,” Yusei said. “He already knows where she lives.”

The three Signers continued to watch as the two continued their sword battle.

“What are you three doing here?” A voice said almost making the Signers yelp in surprise.

They turned to see Joey, Tristan, and Duke.

“We were heading back to the hotel when we heard all the noises,” Akiza said. “Then we found, this, happening.”

“What are you guys doing here?” Yusei countered.

“Keeping an eye on her like Yugi told us too,” Joey replied.

“So you knew this was going to happen?” Crow asked.

“We knew he was going to try and get her attention again,” Duke stated.

“Now just be quiet and hope they don’t hear or see us,” Tristan said as he, Joey, and Duke hid behind the trees as well.

“You’ve caused a lot of trouble lately,” Carly confirmed. “And all just so I’d pay attention to you for even a few minutes.”

“I can’t help it Carly,” Bakura said blocking another blow. “I love you.”

Carly stopped, but still clutched her sword tightly in her hand.

“You know you love me too Carly,” he continued.

“But you don’t treat me right,” she declared. “Nor the people around me.”

* * *

 

_Meanwhile_

“Oh my God,” Akiza said. “He just said he loved her.”

“Yugi did say they have a history,” Yusei confirmed.

“Is this what he meant though?” Crowe asked looking at the other guys.

“Are you really surprised, remember when he asked us to pass a message along to her when you guys first met him?” Duke asked in a whisper.

“Just how close were they?” Akiza asked.

“That’s not our place to tell you,” Tristan declared.

* * *

 

Carly and Bakura continued to strike and block until for several minutes, but Carly suddenly saw her opportunity and with great force knocked his sword out of his hand and kicked him in the stomach and knocking him down onto his back. She pressed her left foot firmly onto his chest and picked up his fallen sword placing it a hair away from his neck. Bakura gave her a questioning look; there was no terror in his expression whatsoever.

“I’m done,” she said firmly before taking both swords and turning to walk away.

* * *

 

Joey, Tristan, Duke, Yusei, Akiza, and Crow panicked thinking she was going to see them and get angry, but she seemed to walk right by like she didn’t even notice they were there.

Once she was gone they looked back through the trees to see Bakura pressing a hand to his chest.

“Well, I guess, I’ve pressed my luck enough today,” he stated.

Then he ran off in the other direction.

“Thank God he didn’t notice us,” Crowe said.

“Yeah, did all of that really just happen though?” Akiza questioned.

“I hate to break it to you guys, but it did,” Joey said.

“Listen, what you saw tonight, don’t mention it to anyone,” Tristan declared.

“Why?” Yusei asked.

“So you all don’t put yourselves in more danger than you already are now,” Duke stated.

“How are we in danger right now?” Akiza asked.

“You’re in danger just from Bakura knowing who you guys are,” Joey stated. “And from witnessing all of this. You don’t need anyone finding out what you just saw. Bakura really doesn’t like it when people witness what he considers personal moment between him and Carly.”

“Okay, we won’t tell anyone, not even the others, what we saw,” Yusei promised. 

“Good, now I suggest you guys go back to your hotel,” Tristan stated. “Bakura’s still out here, even if we can’t see him.”

“Okay, we’ll see you guys around then,” Akiza said.

Then both trios went their separate ways out of the park.


	15. Chapter 15

The next day Carly was at Kaiba’s office; she was supposed to be helping him with the “special project,” but currently they were just sitting in the office, Carly was sitting on the couch, and Kaiba was sitting at his desk typing away on his computer. Since it was also lunch time they had sent Mokuba out to pick up some submarine sandwiches a little while ago, so they were currently waiting for him to return. Kaiba, although working, noticed that Carly was awfully quiet and looked upset. He knew she had a reason though, she told him what happened much earlier in the day, but he wasn’t going to interrogate her for more information he heard all that he needed to hear about it.

“You’re really quiet today,” Kaiba stated.

“Well I’m tired,” Carly replied.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t blame you for being tired, given your early morning exercise,” Kaiba said. “Why do I get the feeling that that isn’t the only thing that is on your mind right now though?”

“Seto, am I good for anything other than brute strength?” Carly questioned.

“What do you mean?” Kaiba asked.

“Well, you have me do all the heavy lifting for this project because I’m practically like a human crane machine, and my job as the Knight is to protect all of you and make sure you don’t get severely injured or die prematurely, then I’m the one who usually ends up getting hurt and then I get yelled at and lectured by Tea.”

“Carly, it’s true that I see your strength as an advantage to my work sometimes, but do you really think I would hang out with you if I didn’t like you?” Kaiba questioned.

“…No,” Carly replied.

“Exactly, I hang out with you because your my friend Carly,” Kaiba confirmed. “As for Yugi and the others, if that’s how you really feel then you need to talk to them about it and work things out with them yourself.”

“But I don’t want to,” Carly complained.

“Then deal with it,” Kaiba deadpanned.

Then the door to the office opened and in walked Mokuba.

“Hey Mokuba,” Carly greeted the young teen. “Glad to see you didn’t get kidnapped.”  
“I’ll take that as a welcome back then,” Mokuba replied.

“Did you get the food?” Carly asked eagerly.

“No Carly, I went all the way down town for a walk,” Mokuba said sarcastically. “Yes, of course I got the food.”

“Never be sarcastic about food,” Carly replied.

“Alright,” Mokuba said.

He reached into the bag and pulled out each wrapped up sub sandwich.

“Meatball for Carly,” he said handing Carly her sandwich. “Turkey for Seto, and roast beef for me.”

“I can’t believe you actually like that stuff now,” Kaiba said. “You used to hate it.”

“He’s 13-years-old Seto,” Carly confirmed. “I don’t think he really cares that much as long as its food.”

“Carly that’s you,” Mokuba replied.

“Yeah, whatever,” Carly said before taking her sandwich and practically inhaling it. “Now that was a good sandwich.”

“Do you even chew your food anymore?” Kaiba asked.

“Sometimes,” Carly replied.

* * *

 

_Later_

Yugi, Joey, and Mai were out with Tristan, Tea, Serenity, and Duke looking for more dueling opponents. They were by the park when they saw Yusei and Jack’s groups.

“Hey strangers,” Tea greeted. “Long time no see.”

“Oh, hi everyone,” Luna said.

“What are you all up too?” Joey asked.

“Well, Crow just won another duel,” Akiza stated. “So we going to go and look for more dueling opponents.”  
“Same as us,” Mai stated.  “How many more locator cards do you all need?”

“Well, I only need two more now,” Crow said. “Jack needs one more and so does Akiza.”

“Lucky, Luna and I need like four more,” Leo stated.

“Well, you guys need to find more opponents then,” Tristan stated.

“No crap,” Leo replied.

“You guys want to come downtown with us? Tea asked. “These guys need to find opponents and downtown is usually full of duelists at this hour.”

“Sure,” Yusei said.

So as the large group of duelists walked down the streets of Domino that led toward downtown.

“So has anyone seen Carly today?” Crow asked.   
“Yeah, I saw her this morning but she went to Kaiba Corp. and I’m guessing that is where she is right now,” Yugi declared.

“No she isn’t,” a voice declared.

A couple of people screamed, but then everyone turned to see Carly standing behind them.

“Carly, what are you doing here?” Yugi questioned.

“Am I not supposed to be here?” Carly asked.

“No, we just thought you were hanging out with Kaiba today,” Serenity said.

“I was, but Seto has a meeting going on right now, and unfortunately I’m not allowed to sit in on Kaiba Corp’s board meetings,” Carly stated.

“What about Mokuba?” Luna asked.

“He’s the vice president of Kaiba Corp., he kind of has to be there,” Carly said.  “So where are you guys heading?”

“We were going to head down town and look for dueling opponent,” Mai said.

“Well, I’m coming with,” Carly stated. “Anything is better than waiting for Seto to get out of that boring meeting of his,”

“I honestly never understood how Kaiba does all of that stuff,” Crow stated.

“Well he kind of doesn’t have a choice half the time,” Carly said. “He is the company president.”

“Does he ever take a break though?” Jack questioned.

“Yeah, but Mokuba and I have to make him usually,” Carly declared. “If we didn’t I think he would work 24/7.”

“I don’t think I could ever understand the workaholic thing completely,” Yugi said.

“That’s because other than helping your grandpa run the Game Shop you’ve never had a real job Yugi,” Carly stated.

“And you have?” Yugi questioned.

“Yeah actually,” Carly replied. “I was a reporter and a blogger when I was in Neo Domino.”

“How can I forget that,” Jack stated. “You tracked me down any chance you could just to get a word from me.”

“Well, it was part of the job,” Carly said. “The only thing I ever really liked about that job was getting to carry around my camera with me.”

Suddenly Carly stopped right in her tracks.

“You can stop stalking me now, it’s getting really creepy,” she said.

Stepping out of an alley way a few feet behind everyone, was none other than Bakura.

“How long did you know I was there?” Bakura questioned.

“Oh, I knew you were fallowing me the whole time,” Carly declared. “You might move with catlike tread, but you never have and never will be able to fool me Dragon. Now go away.”

“Carly, please talk to me Tigress,” Bakura said.

“I told you last night Bakura, I’m done with you,” Carly replied before walking on ahead and speeding up her pace. She didn't even look angry, just tired.

“Carly please, just say something to me,” Bakura said, chasing after her.

“Do you guys hear something?” Carly questioned.

“No, not a thing,” Duke said playing along.

“Come on Carly,” Bakura said. “You know I’m here, you’re not deaf.”

“You know what guys,” Carly began. “I think Seto’s board meeting is almost over so I might just head back to Kaiba Corp.”

“Are you sure?” Serenity asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Carly said before sprinting off.

“Carly wait,” Bakura said running after her.

The rest of the gang just stopped in their tracks.

“Shouldn’t we stop him or something?” Akiza questioned.

“No,” Yugi replied.

“Why?” Luna asked.

“Well, number one he’s dangerous and homicidal, so I don’t think anyone really wants to go near him,” Mai stated. “And two, he’s not going to get very close to her.”

“Why do you say that?” Yusei asked.

Right on cue Bakura came flying through the air and slammed right into the side of a building, leaving a considerably large dent on the wall.

“Boy do I love that girl,” Bakura said before sprinting in the direction they all saw Carly had just sprinted down.

Everyone could faintly hear Carly shouting “take a hint”’.

“Is he that crazy?” Leo asked.

“Well, she is the only one who’s ever made him feel any pain,” Joey stated.

“And so to him that feeling is exhilarating,” Duke added.

“So, to answer your question, yes, he is that crazy, actually, he’s insane,” Yugi declared.


	16. Chapter 16

Yugi and the gang had separated from the Jack and Yusei’s group a while ago, said they were going to go look for more dueling opponents since they still needed to collect locator cards. There was no sign of Bakura or Carly at the moment; they were both really fast after all, so they really weren’t expecting to run into either of the two any time soon.

“Do you think he ever caught up to her?” Serenity asked.

“Oh, I’m sure he did,” Yugi replied.

“Yeah, and I bet she kicked his ass too,” Joey added.

“I bet you he would have loved that,” Duke added.

Suddenly three large men appeared out of nowhere. They were all wearing dark blue jeans, sunglasses, and black hooded sweatshirts.

“What the hell?” Mai said.

“Out of the way losers,” Joey said. “We’re walking here.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” A blonde one said pulling out a switchblade. “You’re all too valuable to the boss for us to just let you go.”

Another one of them with red hair pulled out a lead pipe while the other one with brown hair pulled out a chain.

“I think I’ll start out with you first,” the blonde guy said looking at Yugi.

Joey, Tristan, and Duke moved in front of him.

“You’ll have to go through us first,” Joey stated.

“Fine,” the blonde assassin said. “It shouldn’t take too long.

He began to charge, but before he could even get a few feet away from any of the boys, he was blocked by a kick in the stomach. By who, none other than Carly of course.

“Carly,” Serenity said acknowledging the raven-haired knight now standing in front of them.

“How’d you know where to find us?” Tea questioned.

“I’m the knight remember?” Carly replied. “Super-enhanced everything.”

Then she looked back at all the assassins.

“Let them go,” Carly said.

“And why should we do that?” A man with the pipe questioned.

“I’ll kick all your asses before you get close to them” Carly stated.

“Big words from such a little lady,” The brunette man holding the chain stated.

“What’s wrong?” Carly questioned. “Afraid of being beaten by one girl?”

“You have to be kidding me woman,” the redhead said. “It’d be three against one, you really think you can beat all three of us?”

“Please,” Carly said. “I’ve seen and faced tougher than you three.”

“Well little lady,” the brunette said. “If that’s what you want to do; then know that there’s no going back.”

The blonde one looked at the rest of the group.

“You heard what your little friend said,” he said. “Get the Hell out of here!”

“Carly you shouldn’t,” Yugi began.

“Just get out of here, now, please Yugi!” Carly exclaimed.

So the gang run back in the direction they originally came in and turned a corner.

Technically they were out of sight, but they were still at a safe enough distance where they could see everything that was happening with Carly.

“Serenity,” Joey said looking at his sister. “You should get out of here. Even if we’re hidden it’s too dangerous for you to just stand here and watch.”  
“But Joey, Carly’s my friend too” Serenity confirmed.

“I know, but if we get caught I don’t want them hurting you,” Joey declared. “So please, just go.”

“I don’t think she should go alone though Joey,” Tea declared.

“I’ll go with her,” Duke volunteered.

“Alright, but if you let anything happen to her Duke, I’ll kill you,” Joey declared.

“Not planning on it,” Duke said as he grabbed Serenity’s hand and they ran off.

* * *

 

_A few minutes later_

Duke and Serenity didn’t really have any idea where they were running too only that they were trying to get as far away from the scene that they were witnessing only moments ago. They just hoped the others were okay.

When they stopped for a brief moment to catch their breaths when they heard someone calling out to them.

“Hey strangers, long time no see.”

They looked to see that Jack and Yusei’s group, along with Misty, Kalin, Trudge, and Mina, were standing only a few feet in front of them.

“Why do you guys look like you just ran a marathon?” Leo questioned.

“We were trying to get away from people,” Duke declared.

“What, why?” Akiza questioned.

“Let’s just say that there are people out to get some of us,” Serenity replied.

“Where are the others?” Crow asked.

“They stayed behind to make sure Carly will be okay,”

“Wait, Carly showed up?” Jack asked.

“Yes, she was the one fighting those psychos,” Duke declared.

“By herself?” Yusei questioned.

“You guys have seen her before,” Serenity confirmed. “She’s tougher than she looks.”

Suddenly Serenity’s phone began to ring. She pulled it out of her pocket and picked it up.

“Joey, please tell me you guys are okay,” Serenity said into the phone.

“…”

“What?!” Serenity exclaimed. “How bad is she?”

“…”

“There’s a what in her stomach?”

“Serenity what is it?” Crow asked.

“Carly’s severely injured,” Serenity cried.

“Serenity, it’s going to be okay,” Duke reassured. “Here, let me talk to your brother.”

Serenity handed Duke her phone.

“Joey?” Duke said into the phone.

“…”

“No, she’s okay,” Duke said. “Well, freaking out but who wouldn’t be?”

“…”

“Okay, we’ll see you there,” Duke said before hanging up Serenity’s phone.

“They’re taking her to Kaiba’s office to fix her up,” Duke said to Serenity. “Come on, the others are waiting.”

“Wait, why to Kaiba Corp. and not the hospital?” Mina questioned.

“It’s would be too hard to explain to the doctors,” Duke stated. “Since you guys know, you might as well come.”

“Carly’s hurt, of course we’re coming,” Yusei said.

“Well come on then,” Duke called. “We don’t have all day.”

* * *

 

By the time Duke, Serenity, and the 5Ds gang made it to Kaiba Corp. The guards just led them up to Kaiba’s office where they say a majority of the gang gathered around Carly who was one the floor, with a lead pip running through her stomach and sticking out of her back.

“Oh my God,” Serenity exclaimed.

“How the hell did that happen?” Duke questioned.

“How to do think it happened?” Carly yelled. “One of the guys stabbed me in the stomach with a pipe and it went all the way through.”

“Hey, how did all of you get here?” Joey asked looking at the 5Ds gang.

“We bumped into them,” Serenity said. “They were with us when you called.”

“Great, now more people get to see this bloody mess,” Tristan said sarcastically.

“Why didn’t you take her to the hospital?” Yusei asked.

“Because I’m perfectly capable of patching up any injury she gets,” Tea stated. “Even one this severe.”

“Carly,” a familiar and unwanted voice said catching everyone’s attention.

Everyone turned to see Bakura now standing in the room.

“What the Hell are you doing here limey?” Tristan questioned.

“She’s injured you idiot,” Bakura said. “If you think I’m here to take advantage of that and try and kill all of you, you can go to Hell.”

“What did you say?” Tristan asked glaring at Bakura.

“If either of you kill each other I’ll kill the other one once this pipe is out of me!” Carly exclaimed. “Now will someone please get this thing out of my stomach? It really really hurts.”

“Alright, you all heard her,” Tea said. “Everyone out so I can work on fixing her wound.”

So everyone got out of Kaiba’s office, all except Bakura, who Tea glared at for the longest time.

“Okay Carly,” she said looking at the injured knight. “I’m going to pull it out now; are you ready?”

“No, I’m not ready” Carly exclaimed.

Bakura grabbed her hand and she gave him a questioning look.

“Listen Carly, just keep your eyes on me,” Bakura stated. “There’s no one here but you and me now. This will be over faster than you think it will be. It’s going to be okay. It’s just you and me now, no one else matters.”

Tea began to slide the pipe out.

“Shit!” Carly exclaimed squeezing tightly on Bakura’s hand, hard enough to break it.

* * *

 

_On the other side of the door_

“Dammit Tea, get this thing out of me!” Carly's shouts could be heard through the door.

“God, she’s got to be in a lot of pain,” Kalin stated.

“There’s a frickin pipe in her stomach,” Joey confirmed. “Of course she’s in pain.”

Suddenly Kaiba began walking down the hall.

“Where are you going Kaiba?” Yugi asked.

Kaiba didn’t say anything, but disappeared. A couple minutes later he returned with a set of clothes: a black sleeveless leather vest with a gray hood, a plain red t-shirt, and a pair of black camouflage shorts.

“She has an extra set of clothes here?” Akiza questioned.

“Yeah, for when she’s doing heavy lifting for me and ends up needing to change,” Kaiba stated.

"What's Bakura doing here anyway?" Crowe asked.

"I called him," was Kaiba's response. At the startled looks he recieved he continued, "this is about Carly and and what will make her feel better."

"That and I don't want to imagine Bakura's reaction if he found out after the fact," Yugi commented.

Without saying another word Kaiba opened the door and entered the office before shutting the door behind him. The pipe was being carried away by Tea while Bakura was gently wiping Carly’s sweat soak bangs out of her face. Carly herself was just leaning against Bakura for comfort and seemed pretty unsteady.

“Kaiba what are you doing in here?” Tea asked.

“Bringing her a change of clothes,” Kaiba said. “I don’t think she’d like walking around in blood-stained clothes for the rest of the day.”

“No I wouldn’t,” Carly confirmed. “Thanks Seto.”

“Alright,” Tea said. “Both of you boys out. I need to help her get changed.”

Bakura reluctantly let go of Carly’s hand and headed toward the door and out of the office.

* * *

 

_Outside the office again_

Once Kaiba and Bakura were out of the office again. Bakura spoke.

“Who did it to her?” He asked.

“What?” Yugi asked, taken aback by what Bakura had said.

“I want to know,” Bakura declared. “Who did that to her?”

“The enemy sent three assassins after us,” Mai declared. “You should be able to piece the rest of the puzzle together.”

With that said Bakura walked off.

“You’re just going to let him go?” Yusei questioned.

“There’s no stopping him,” Yugi declared. “The only one who can ever come remotely close is Carly.”

After several more minutes of waiting, Carly and Tea emerged from the office. Tea was holding a roll of bandages under her arm.

“Where’d he go?” Carly asked.

“Who?” Luna asked.

“He left,” Joey stated.

“And you idiots just let him get away?” Carly questioned. “Do you realize what he’s going to do?”

Carly ran as fast as she could down the hall and soon she was out of sight.

The rest of the gang quickly in the same direction that she went. The 5Ds gang looked at each other confused for a few seconds before following the others.

* * *

 

Carly ran as fast as she could down the hall and out the fire escape.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Yugi asked.

“I’m going to find him, before the worst happens,” Carly said. “I have super enhanced everything, and Tea patched me up, there’s not even a scar.”

Everyone just looked at her with wide eyes.

“Yeah, I don’t care if they know or not anymore,” she stated as she climbed up the fire escape.

“What’s she going to do?” Trudge asked.

“She’s going to scale the roofs of buildings until she spots Bakura,” Tristan replied.

“And she’s right,” Yugi said. “We need to find him. So everyone, split up.”

“Got it,” Joey said.

* * *

 

Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Kaiba, Yusei, Jack, Akiza, Leo, and Luna were searching for Bakura along the side streets.

“So what can he do that has Carly so concerned?” Akiza asked.

“If he finds those guys and duels them, it will be a shadow duel,” Tea stated.

“What’s a shadow duel?” Crow questioned.

“It’s a duel that makes you and your opponents suffer real damage from cards played in the duel,” Yugi stated.

“In fact from what Carly told us, you guys competed in shadow duels when you all dealt with the dark signers,” Tristan stated.

“What happened if you lose a shadow duel though?” Jack questioned.

* * *

 

“When you lose a shadow duel your soul gets banished to the shadow realm,” Mai declared.

She, Joey, Duke, Serenity, Crow, Misty, Mina, Kalin, and Trudge walked near the docks near the harbor.

“What exactly is the shadow realm though?” Mina asked.

“It’s a place of absolute darkness and suffering,” Joey declared.

“The only way you can get free is if your opponent is defeated by somebody else,” Tristan said. “Then all the souls that were trapped their by that person is released.”

“Uhm, guys,” Duke began. “I think we found Bakura.”

Everyone looked in front of them and saw a huge dark purple dome.

“What is that thing?” Misty questioned.

“It’s the shadow realm,” Serenity said fearfully.

“We need to let the other’s know we found him,” Joey declared.

“Right,” Mai said pulling out her cell phone. “Tea?”

“…”

“Yeah, we found him,” Mai stated. “He’s by the docks.”

“…”

“Alright hurry up,” Mai said before hanging up the phone.

Twenty Minutes Later

The rest of the group showed up and just looked at the dome with unease and anger.

“Dammit,” Joey said. “He’s probably destroying them in there.”

“You guys said the shadow realm was a place of suffering,” Yusei confirmed. “Exactly how can you suffer in there?”

“Lot of ways,” Joey declared. “You can be chased by a reaper.”

“Bound and tortured like an animal for slaughter, be made into a shade,” Mai added.

“Or trapped in a container like a glass box and forced to watch a nightmare of yours play over and over,” a familiar voice added from behind the group. “And even if you get out by some chance, it’s not something you forget just like that.”

Everyone turned to see Carly standing behind them.

“Dammit,” she said looking at the purple dome.

When the dome disappeared everyone looked to see Bakura wearing his duel disk, and three bodies, the bodies of the assassins who Carly had faced before, on the ground.

“Oh my God!” Luna exclaimed.

The 5Ds gang just looked at the whole scene in shock.

Carly bowed her head clenched her fists at her sides, and turned the other way but she said nothing.

Bakura looked at the people who know stood in front of him then at Carly.

“I did this for you,” he simply said.

Carly didn’t say anything, she didn’t even lift her head.

“One day you’ll understand,” Bakura said before turning to leave the scene.

Carly again didn’t move from where she was.

Kaiba pulled out his phone and dialed it.

“It’s Kaiba, send the car,” he said. “And send an ambulance as well.”

Minutes later a limousine and an ambulance pulled up and Kaiba put his hand on Carly’s shoulder.

“Come on Carly,” he said. “We have work to finish.”

Carly nodded and slid into the back of the limo. Then Kaiba turned and looked at the rest of the group.

“Walk fast,” he said. “Hopefully she’ll be calmer by the time you’re all back a Kaiba Corp.

“Right,” Yugi replied.

With that the limousine pulled away.

When the medics asked the others what happened all they told them was that they found the men passed out and attempted CPR, but it was not successful. The medics didn’t ask any more questions after that. They simply lifted the bodies into the ambulance and pulled away. 

“Alright, what the Hell are you people hiding?” Crow asked.

The gang looked at each other before Yugi spoke again.

“Walk with us to Kaiba Corp,” he said. “We’ll tell you along the way.”

“Should we let Kaiba know we’re telling them?” Mai questioned.

“We should,” Yugi replied.

“I’ll do it,” Tea said pulling out her cell phone and dialing Kaiba’s number.

“Kaiba?” She said into the phone.

“…”

“Listen, we’re telling the others the truth,” she said. “They’ve seen too much now to not be told.”

“…”

“Okay, see you soon,” Tea said before hanging up the phone. “Okay, he’s fine with it.”

“Alright,” Yugi began. “First off, do you guys believe in reincarnation?”

“I do,” Misty replied.

“I’m guessing you’re going to tell us that reincarnation has something to do with this?” Yusei questioned.

“It has a lot to do with this actually,” Yugi stated. “We’ve actually first lived over five thousand years ago. Since then we’ve been reincarnated three times, this is our fourth period of living.”

“Wait, all of you?” Akiza asked.

“Well, not me or Serenity, or Kaiba’s little brother Mokuba,” Duke said.

“What eras did you guys live through though?” Jack asked. “And if you’re telling the truth, how do you remember all your lifetimes?”

“Well, there’s a God that we “serve”,” Tea said. “And he makes us retain the memories of each lifetime, even how we all died. We’ve lived in Atlantis, Egypt, England, and now here. Each of us has a different role, like a court almost.”

“So who’s who?” Mina asked.

“Well, Yuge is the king,” Joey stated. “I’m the general, Carly’s the knight, Tristan’s the spymaster, Tea’s the healer, Mai’s the oracle, Kaiba’s the priest, and Bakura, he’s the assassin.”

 “That explains a lot actually,” Yusei stated.

“Well, what about Bakura, what’s his deal?” Crow asked.

Everyone looked at each other before Yugi spoke again.

“During our lifetime in ancient Egypt, Bakura was horrifically traumatized and it still has an effect on him” Yugi stated.

“Yet, despite this, every lifetime we’ve lived and through all the horrible things he’s done, Carly has always loved Bakura,” Tea stated. “When you love someone for this long, stopping just isn’t an option.”

* * *

 

_Minutes later at Kaiba Corp_

The large group were escorted down to one of the labs of Kaiba Corp. where Kaiba was overseeing the construction of some type of machine and Carly was carrying a lot of heavy pieces of metal.

“So I assume you told them everything?” Kaiba asked.

“The basics, and what could be explained,” Mai replied.

“Apparently trauma can make people go crazy,” Leo stated.

“Well, if you ask me, Bakura still has no right to be the way he is,” Tristan stated.

Then before Tristan even had time to blink again, he was slammed against the wall, leaving a dent, and there was a hand around his neck.

“How dare you say that Tristan,” Carly hissed. “I was there too and could have just as easily ended up the same way, or did you forget that?”

“No,” Tristan choked out.

“Then you have no right to say that about him,” Carly yelled.

“Carly,” Yugi warned.

“Carly put him down,” Kaiba said.

“No,” she replied.

“Yes,” Kaiba said. “We have work to finish, remember.”

Carly glared at Kaiba before turning her gaze back to Tristan and letting go of his neck, causing him to fall on the ground.

“Never let me hear you say that again Tristan, understand?” Carly asked.

Tristan merely nodded.

Carly picked up all the equipment she was holding and continued her work. A few minute later she emerged from behind the machine and nodded to Kaiba.

“Alright Kaiba, what did you want to show us that’s so important?” Tristan asked.

“The machine is finally done,” Kaiba stated.


	17. Chapte17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of things happened in Atlantis, not all of them pleasant

The machine looked a lot like the virtual reality pods that Kaiba Corp had used in the past for when Kaiba created the _Legendary Heroes_ games. There were twenty pods this time though.

“Why did you build so many pods this time Kaiba?” Yugi questioned.

“So others can see the memories we are about to observe,” Kaiba replied.

“I think we should let them decide whether or not they want to,” Mai stated.

“Mai’s right,” Carly replied. “If you guys think you can handle what we’re all about to see then you are more than welcome to view it with us. I warn you all to know though, what you are about to see is truly horrifying in ways you would not think of.”

“I’m pretty sure we can handle it, Carly,” Crow stated. “We faced the Dark Signers after all.”

“Yeah,” Carly deadpanned. “Don’t talk about that.”

“I think what Crowe means to say is, we’re with you guys for this Carly,” Yusei declared. “After seeing everything that has happened so far around you all, knowing more about your past lives, would help us understand what you guys are going through.”

“Believe me,” Tristan said. “You’ll never completely understand what we are going through.”

“If you insist on really knowing then,” Kaiba said. “Step into the pods, and we can get started.”

“Who’s going to operate the machine from the outside though?” Luna questioned.

As if on cue Mokuba entered the room.

“I got your message Seto,” he said. “You’re all going to do this now?”

“The others have already been informed of everything Mokuba,” Kaiba stated. “Everyone agrees that now is as good a time as any to show these people what happened in our past lives."

“Serenity and I will stay out here and help him,” Duke stated.

“Yeah,” Serenity agreed. “Besides we already know what happened in the past. I don’t know if I’d be comfortable viewing all of it.”

“It’s alright sis,” Joey said. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure I’d be comfortable with you watching it.”  

“I think I’m going to sit this one out,” Mina stated. “I’ll stay out here with you two in case something goes wrong, and we need to solve a problem.”

“So where is this going to start?” Leo questioned as everyone began to climb into the pods.

“Where all of it started,” Tea replied. “In Atlantis, over 10,000 years ago.”

“All of you don’t have to be here for this to work?” Kalin questioned.

Kaiba, Tristan, and Joey gave Kalin and warning looking, knowing what he was implying before Joey spoke.

“No,” he replied. “Besides we were pretty much in the same place when the events in Atlantis went down.”

“Just watch, and you’ll see everything that happened to all of us then,” Tea added.

 “Power up the machine Mokuba,” Kaiba said looking at his younger brother.

“You got it,” Mokuba replied.

He, Duke, Serenity, and Mina went over to a panel on the other side of the machine, and they all watched us Mokuba punched codes into the keyboard as the device powered up. Soon the hatches closed over the pods that everyone was sitting in.

“How exactly do these pods work?” Leo questioned.

“Just close your eyes and let your mind go blank,” Carly said. “Hopefully that won’t take long.”

Everybody closed their eyes, and soon the machine started making noises, and then it went completely silent, and the monitor began to glow.

“All systems operational,” Mokuba declared. “They’re entering the mindscape.”

“How long will they be in there?” Mina questioned.

“When they all decide they have seen enough, their subconsciousness will return to their bodies and the machine will let us know to power it down,” Mokuba answered.

“What if one of them can’t bear to view it anymore though?” Serenity asked with concern.

“Don’t worry Serenity,” Mokuba said. “This also lets us monitor their stress levels. If one of their stress levels gets too high, we can do an emergency eject, and they should be able to get out.”

“Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen to any of them,” Duke commented.

* * *

 

When everyone opened their eyes, they saw that they were in an empty black space.

“Why is it so dark here?” Jack questioned. “Where are we?”

“We’re in what we call the dreamscape,” Carly replied.

“It won’t stay like this the whole time,” Kaiba continued. “We’ll show you the events that started this all in a minute, but first it would probably be best to show you where exactly everything began.”

The dreamscape changed and everyone saw an island in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by stone walls and filled with plants and many beautiful stone buildings.

“Is this Atlantis?” Akiza questioned.

“It is,” Mai replied. “It was isolated from the rest of the world and populated by humans and duel monsters who back then existed in the form of spirits, they coexisted peacefully and were said to know nothing of violence.”

Soon everyone found themselves on the ground, standing on one of the roads of the city.

“Wow,” Misty said. “It’s almost like watching a play, only standing on the stage while doing so.”

“Only one day darkness descended upon Atlantis,” Yugi continued. “A volcano erupted, and fragments of what was known as the Orichalcos stone showered down upon the city. The Orichalcos granted the citizens knowledge of power. The kingdom quickly began to advance technologically and, in a few years, became the most advanced civilization in the world, even more so than today’s world.”

“As time went by though the citizens of Atlantis became greedier, corrupt, violent even,” Tristan added.  “The ruler at the time, King Dartz sought to correct this. People became so corrupt that their outside appearance was being to reflect how they were on the inside, turning them into monsters. It even struck his wife, Iona, and he was forced to kill her.”

“He killed his wife?” Misty questioned.

“She attacked him,” Tea confirmed. “He had no choice.”

“Dartz then decided that the only way to save Atlantis was to wipe out humanity and start fresh,” Carly said. “The Orichalcos told him to revive its master The Great Leviathan to assist him in his battle against humanity. But Dartz's, father, Ironheart stood in his way and advised him to destroy the Orichalcos stones and return to their old way of life. Dartz refused to listen though, and was convinced that humanity had to be wiped out.”

“Ironheart and Chris, Dartz’s daughter, sought out to help refugees and summon the legendary knight spirits Timaeus, Critias, and Hermos, to aid in the fight against Dartz and the Orichalcos soldiers,” Yugi continued, “and that was the start of the battle of Atlantis, which is what we will now show you.”

The scene changed, and everyone saw a young woman who looked a lot like Carly, only she had light blue hair, and she was wearing a light blue long sleeveless blue silk dress with detached open sleeves that stopped at her wrist, the dress had a gray Grecian collar and she was wearing gray gladiator sandals on her feet. She was running and carrying a large vase in her hands. She ran toward a room at the end of a long hallway and closed the door behind her.

The scene changed, and she was in a room with the others.

“Did you get what we need Natalia?” An all too familiar voice said.

“Oh my God,” Crowe said. “Is that Bakura?”

“Yes,” Carly said sadly.

His physical appearance was not much different from his modern-day one; though he had some light blue highlights similar to the color of Carly’s hair scattered about his white hair. He was wearing a light blue tunic and gray pants and gray sandals on his feet.

“Yes, Demosthenes,” Natalia. “Right here, and nobody saw me.”

“I’d hope not considering they are all either fighting off the king’s army of soldiers or trying to escape the city,” Demosthenes replied.

Natalia then looked at a woman who was quite similar Tea. She had much longer hair though, cascading all the way down her back. Her dress was silk, just as Natalia’s was, only it was white and had short pink sleeves draping down her shoulders, and a pink cape was attached to the back of her dress, she wore pink sandals. 

“Did you manage to fetch the jug of water Tatiana?” She asked.

“I did,” Tatiana said.

The door suddenly opened again, and everyone looked panicked until they saw three armored figures entered the room.

“Sorry we are late,” a figure that looked a lot like Joey said.

He had brown hair similar to Kaiba’s though, and gold eyes. He was wearing red and black armor. He also wore a black cape that was purple inside and a silver sword sat in a sheath on his left hip.

“Hermos, Timaeus, Critias,” Natalia acknowledged the three knights. “Ironheart summoned you.”

Timaeus looked very similar to Yugi, He had the same eye color, but his hair was hidden under the helmet he wore. He had teal/green armor that had silver and black and light blue accents about it. It also had a black cape that was light blue inside; a silver sword hung it its sheath on his left hip.

Critias looked very similar to Kaiba, he had blue eyes that were slightly darker than Kaiba’s though, and from underneath his helmet, there was a singled stand of dirty blonde hair sticking out. His armor was dark blue with, black and silver accents. He also wore a black cape that was gold on the inside. He had a silver sword with a gold jewel blue curve near the black handle.

“Yes, he has,” Timaeus said. “First though are here like we agreed to take part in this ritual with you all.”

“Are we sure we want to do this?” A woman looking very similar to Mai said.

She was wearing a dark purple sleeveless dress with a black cape with a dark purple lining and purple sandals.

“We all know what will happen if we do this Ioanna,” a man looking very similar to Tristan said.

He was wearing a long white tunic with green sleeves and green pants; he also had sandals of a similar green color.

“Arcadius is right,” Critias said. “Now let us mix the ashes and get this ritual done before it is too late.”

So, Tatiana approached Natalia with the jug of water. Natalia took the lid off of the vase, and Tatiana poured some of the water in it.

“What is in the jar?” Trudge questioned.

“Those,” Yugi began “are the ashes of the God that we serve.”

“This is where it all started for you guys then?” Leo questioned. “The cycle?”

“It is,” Joey replied.

The group watched as all the Atlantians incarnations of everyone dipped their fingers into the mixture of water and ashes and began spreading it on any patch of bare skin that was available. They covered it on their faces, the girls on their arms, on the top their feet, yet as soon as the ashy mixture touched their skin, it dissolved right into it.

“It just disappeared right into your skin?!” Luna asked in shock.

“They are ashes of a god,” Joey confirmed. “What else are they supposed to do?”

“We are now part of an endless cycle,” Timaeus confirmed. “Shall we die on this day we will all be reincarnated into a new era.”

“Let us hope that the next cycle will not have such a chaotic war in it,” Tatiana said.

“Considering the god we are now serving,” Ioanna began. “I do not believe that is much of a possibility.”

“Let us just hope that maybe some of us will be able to live through this battle,” Demosthenes said.

“The only way that would happen is if King Dartz decides not to wipe out all of humanity,” Natalia said.

“Well,” Hermos began. “We should not just stand here.”

“Yes,” Critias said. “We must go stop the king before he succeeds in his mission.”

“Be careful,” Ioanna said. “All of you.”

Once the knights left Natalia looked at everyone.

 “We should get the vase back to the temple before somebody notices they’re gone and starts asking questions,” she said. “If we fill it with sand or something no one will even notice that there aren’t as much ashes anymore.”

* * *

 

The scene changed again, and this time everyone found themselves in a room with the three knights fighting numerous soldiers and Orichalcos soldiers before approaching a tall man with light blue hair that went down to his knees and gold eyes. He was wearing blue and purple robes, and long white cape, a gold crown was on his head, and a sword in its sheath hung from his left hip.

“Is that King Dartz?” Akiza asked.

“Yes,” Yugi said. “We are now witnessing when the legendary knights attempted to stop him.”

“I should have known that my father would call upon you to try and stop me,” King Dartz declared. “Rest assured though knights, you won’t stop me.”

The three knights made their moves toward Dartz. For a while all everyone watched the knights and Dartz go at each other with there swords. After some time Dartz finally spoke again.

“I have had enough of you knights,” he said.

A large unicursal hexagram appeared around the knights and before one of them could even utter a word their bodies began to transform.

Everyone just gasped at the scene they were watching.

“Whoa” Leo exclaimed.

Standing before them now were three huge dragons, their color schemes similar to that of the armor the knights were wearing.

“Dartz turned the knights into dragons?” Luna asked in shock.

“He did,” Joey replied. “And it wasn’t pleasant.”

“Do you remember what it felt like?” Crowe asked in disbelief.

“…no actually,” Joey replied. “Thinking about it is never pleasant though and I can now say seeing it is no picnic either.”

Suddenly the room began to shake.

“What’s happening?” Yusei questioned.

“Exactly what happened next,” Carly replied.

Suddenly a huge purple serpentine dragon with a pink belly, a forked tail, and ruffles of teal fur on various parts of its body emerged in front of the three dragons.

“What is that thing?” Misty questioned.

“It’s the Great Leviathan,” Kaiba declared. “A monster born of the darkness of human souls.”

They all watched as Great Leviathan made its way toward the three legendary dragons and began attacking them.

“This is nothing like watching a duel,” Crowe whispered to Yusei.

They all watched with terrified and shocked expressions as Dartz, and the Great Leviathan attacked the three legendary dragons. Dartz even summoned a bolt of lightning that struck his sword, and then he threw it at Timeaus, and it hit him right in the eye.

“Not the most pleasant thing to have ever happened to me,” Yugi stated.

“At least you can’t feel it right now,” Carly replied.

The battle went on for several more minutes, and after a while, the three dragons defeated the Great Leviathan, only the room began quaking more intensely.

“The dragons defeated it,” Leo confirmed.

“Then why is the whole room quaking harder?” Luna questioned.

“Have you heard the legends of the city of Atlantis?” Tea questioned.

“Yeah,” Trudge replied. “The whole city sunk into the oce…oh wait.”

“The city did sink into the ocean,” Mai confirmed. “That is why nobody won.”

The room began to cave in, and soon the dragons, the Leviathan, and Dartz were lost under all the rubble.

“What happened to the others though?” Akiza questioned.

“That’s what we are about to see next,” Joey said.

The scene changed again, and this time they all saw Natalia, Ioanna, Tatiana, Arcadius, and Demosthenes running down a hallway with many rooms. Natalia was holding the vase in her hands once again. Just like the last scene though, everything around them began to quake, making all five of them stop dead in their tracks.

“What’s happening?” Ioanna asked.

“Haven’t got a clue,” Demosthenes declared. “It may have something to do with whatever is happening where Timaeus, Critias, and Hermos are.”

“We have to try and keep moving,” Acardius stated. “We need to put the vase back and get to safety.”

They ran as fast as they could down the hallway avoiding falling pieces of stone along the way. Unfortunately, as they turned one corner, soldiers with the Orichalcos symbols glowing on their foreheads were standing only a few feet in front of them.

“Well, well, well,” One of them said. “What have we got here?”

The group tried to turn and make a run for it, but more debris was falling behind them, blocking their escape.

“I don’t know what you were thinking when you stole those ashes temple maiden,” Another soldier said looking at Natalia, who was hugging the vase to her chest. “I think you of all people should know that it’s considered treason to steal and desecrate items from the temple. And since your friends here were following you, I can only assume they took part in whatever you were doing. So, you’re all guilty of treason.”

Two of the guards went to grab Natalia.

“Get away from her!” Demosthenes yelled lunging toward them.

They grabbed him though and threw him into one of the empty rooms before apprehending the others who were struggling greatly to get away and tossing them into the same place and slamming the door shut, but not before taking the vase from Natalia.

Arcadius made a run for the door and tried desperately to open it, but to no avail.

“Dammit,” he cursed. “We’re looked in.”

“So, this is it,” Tatiana said sadly.

The room began to quake even harder.

“This is how we go the first time,” Ioanna added.

“This is it,” Natalia said clinging onto Demosthenes for dear life.

“All we can do at this point is wait for the inevitable to happen,” Demosthenes declared hugging Natalia back tightly.

Stone began to fall onto the floor.

“Let’s just hope we get some moments of happiness in the next life,” Tatiana said.

Right as she said that roof began to cave in, and the last thing everyone saw was the group huddling together and bracing themselves for the death they knew was about to come. Then it went black.

“The rest of you died when the room caved in?” Jack questioned.

“Yes,” Tristan said. “Even if we did not get caught, the roof caving in would have possibly killed somewhere else.”

“And the ashes?” Kalin inquired. “What happened to them?”

“Sunk to the bottom of the ocean with the rest of the city,” Mai replied.

“I don’t think there’s one word that can describe what we just saw you guys go through in that  life,” Yusei declared. “There’s one thing I didn’t quite understand though. Three of you died as dragons; that didn’t prevent you from being reincarnated.

“Only part of our souls went into those dragons,” Yugi declared. “When we rubbed those ashes onto ourselves, we relinquished part of our souls to the god, that’s why we were not deleted from the cycle.”

“You said Egypt was the next lifetime?” Akiza questioned.

“Yes,” Carly replied. “I’m warning all of you now though, some of what your about to see is worse than what happened in Atlantis. There is also going to be a lot more to watch. If you want to back out now is the time to do it.”

“Certain things need to be seen or you won’t get a completely accurate understanding of what was going on. It will not just be how we died, but events from various points of that stage in the cycle,” Kaiba elaborated.

“No way,” Yusei said. “We said we’d see this through with you all.”

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

“Then we move forward,” Yugi declared. “Prepare yourselves, what we have to see first…..saying it’s horrific would be an understatement and disrespectful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you know about the Thief Kings backstory you should know what coming next


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unlike in the previous chapter, it's not just the deaths that will be shown. What happened in Ancient Egypt helped shape most of our reincarnated characters into who they are, so more of their lives will be shown

“Crap,” Mokuba said. “Somebody’s stress level is in the danger zone.”

“Should we eject them?” Serenity asked in concern.

“Not yet,” Mokuba replied. “If the vitals keep going up though we’ll have to.”

“Who’s the person having trouble?” Mina questioned.

* * *

 

There was fire, fire and screaming everywhere. People were running around in groups and by themselves screaming. The whole scene was absolute chaos.

Carly took one look at the scene and immediately looked away, closing her eyes and covering her ears, hoping to drown out everything.

“Carly,” Jack said in concern. “What is it?”

Kaiba approached Carly and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I know that this is difficult for you,” he stated. “But if you don’t calm down, Mokuba is going to eject you; and without you, there is no way we will be able to view this part of the past.”

Carly looked up at him.

“You’re right,” Carly replied after taking a deep breath.

Yugi then approached Carly and wrapped his arms around her in a hug, and she buried her head in his shoulder.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’s okay.”

“Don’t you think you're a little too hard on her?” Yusei questioned.

“She is the only one who witnessed this event,” Kaiba declared. “We need her or we can’t see this. So, she must calm down.”

Suddenly everyone saw a young girl who looked a lot like Carly, only her skin was tanner, running alongside a boy who looked a lot like Bakura.

“Where are we?” Crowe asked.

“The village of Kul Elna,” Yugi replied. “To understand this lifetime better, we have to show you what happened years before our deaths. Even before most of us had ever met.”

“What is so significant about this village?” Jack questioned.

“This village was the home of many thieves and criminals,” Kaiba replied. “It is one of the reasons that the Pharaoh’s brother and adviser, Aknadin, chose it to be the birthplace of the seven Millennium Items. To do so he needed 99 human souls, so he invaded the village and had the villagers slaughtered.”

“And this village happened to be where Bakura and I lived in our Egyptian live,” Carly confirmed sadly.

“Hurry up Nephthys,” Bakura said. “We cannot let them catch us.”

“Where are we going to go Bakura?” Nephthys asked. “Mother and Father are dead, and these men aren’t showing any mercy.”

“I don’t know,” Bakura said. “We’ll think of something.”

The two young children could hear the sounds of men’s footsteps getting closer, and it terrified them more and more.

“They’re coming for us,” Nephthys cried in fear, clutching onto her companion.

Bakura looked around searching for a hiding spot; he noticed a rather large water jug, so he ran over to it and opened it to find it empty thankfully.

“Here,” Bakura said ushering the frightened girl over.

She followed him, and he guided her to get into the jug.

“What are you doing Bakura?” Nephthys questioned.

“Just hide in here,” he replied. “And whatever you do don’t get out for any reason.”

“No!” Nephthys exclaimed. “Don’t leave me here alone.”

“There’s not enough room for both of us. I’ll come back for you. I promise,” Bakura declared. “Just don’t leave this jug until I come and get you.”

With the said he ushered her all the way in and put the top on the jug, and she heard him run off.

Little Nephthys was sitting in there for who knows how long, crying with her eyes closed and her hands over her ears. “Please, please don’t leave me alone.”

“Somebody, please tell me this is all a cruel, sick joke,” Trudge said.

“No,” Tea replied. “No, it is not.”

The scene changed to morning, and the whole burnt village was now empty. Nephthys left the jug and looked at the damage that was surrounding her.

“You left?” Akiza questioned Carly who had, somewhat shakily, stepped away form Yugi. `

“It was so quiet I didn’t think I was in any danger,” Carly declared. “I was dying to get out of there and see what had happened to my village.”

She wondered around looking almost desperately for a sign of Bakura. He did promise that he would come back for her.

She ran through the remains of the village calling out for him.

“Bakura,” she yelled out.

When she was left with no response, she tried one more time.

“Bakura!” she called.

She got a response this time, but not from Bakura. She got her response in the form of soldiers approaching her.

“Oh no,” she said.

“What do we have here,” the soldier said dismounting his horse.

“It seems that a little brat survived the massacre,” The soldier behind him replied.

“What shall we do about it then?” The soldier standing in front of her questioned.

“Please,” Nephthys said quietly. “Don’t hurt me.”

“Sorry little girl,” he said moving to grab her. “We can’t have any witnesses to what happened here.”

The soldier grabbed her, but she immediately started screaming.

“What do you think you’re doing?” A young voice questioned.

Carly and the guards turned to see a young boy decorated in gold jewelry; he was riding a white horse. Several more guards were riding behind her.

“My prince,” one of the guards said dropping to his knees and bowing to the young boy. “What are you doing here?”

“I saw the smoke,” the boy said. “I told my father that I wished to investigate it, and he told me I could as long as I was accompanied. Now, who is this young girl?”

“We found her running around the village Prince Atem,” the other guard declared. “She is probably a peasant girl who came to loot the village.”

“That’s not true,” Nephthys said defensively. “I was looking for Bakura. We were separated last night.”

“Put her down,” Prince Atem ordered.

“My prince,” the guard said. “I am not entirely certain you should trust this girl.”

“I believe she is harmless,” Atem declared. “Now I said, put her down.”

The guards did as Atem told them.

“Now leave,” Atem commanded. “Also, tell my attendants to stay far behind and wait for me to return.”

“Yes, my prince,” one of the guards replied.

Once they were out of sight, Atem turned his attention back to Nephthys.

“Now where do you think Bakura went?” Atem asked.

“I don’t know,” Nephthys replied. “He had me hide in a jug, but then I got out and those guards found me. He promised me he would come back, but it is now morning, and I still have no idea where he could be, and he’s all that I have.”

“How about this,” Atem offered. “We will search for him, and if we do not find him then you can accompany me back to the palace, and I will have my remaining attendants stay behind to see if they can find anybody.”

Nephthys looked around the broken village before looking back at Atem.

“Alright,” she replied.

So, they searched everywhere that they thought a person could hide. After hours of searching, they found that Bakura was nowhere in sight, at least that is what Nephthys said.

“I’m sorry we could not find him,” Atem said.

“It is not your fault my prince,” Nephthys replied.

“Come now,” Atem said helping her onto his horse. “I will take you back to the palace.”

“Why did you go with him so willingly?” Luna asked. “Did you remember who he was?”

“No,” Carly replied. “That would not happen for years to come.”

“It wouldn’t?” Kalin asked.

“No,” Joey stated. “It takes a while for all of us to remember that we all knew each other before.”

“How long?” Leo asked.

“When the first of our group, who it usually is varies, hits puberty,” Tristan stated. “Then the memories of the previous life start flooding back.”

“That didn’t answer the first question Luna asked,” Misty stated. “Why did you go with Atem so willingly?”

“I felt this pull toward him,” Carly replied. “Like I was supposed to go with him.”

“A pull?” Akiza inquired.

“It is something that we all feel before our memories return,” Mai declared. “When we meet each other for the first time we just feel a pull towards each other. We feel something safe and familiar and are drawn to it. It makes it much easier to become friends.”

“Interesting,” Kalin replied.

Everyone then found themselves standing in a very open beautiful hallway in the palace, and they watched as they Atem and Nephthys, still children walked down the hall and once they passed a column they had changed and were now young adults. Nephthys herself was now dressed in finery and wearing gold.

“I cannot believe how many lessons father has made me attend today,” Atem complained.

“Well,” Nephthys began. “If you are going to be the pharaoh one day, you will need to know all you can about Egypt and its people.”

“I know but still,” Atem replied. “I am only the prince right now, and I do still have friends that I would very much like to see.”

“Is my company not enough?” Nephthys teased.

“That’s not what I meant,” Atem said. “You don’t count in this instance; you’re my bodyguard, I see you almost every hour of the day.”

“Carly, you were his bodyguard?” Jack questioned.

“It only made sense,” Carly replied. “I had no family, no life outside of Atem, and I was extremely loyal. Once I was properly trained, I was the perfect pick for the job.”

“I thought you always did a great job,” Yugi stated.

“Thanks, Yugi,” Carly replied.

“Well,” Nephthys began. “You don’t have any more lessons or obligations today, do you?”

“No,” Atem said. “Thank the gods.”

“How about we go see if we can find Jono, Teana, and Jabari then? Finding them shouldn’t be too hard,” Nephthys suggested.

“Yes,” Atem said. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

The scene changed and the pharaoh and his bodyguard outside, only this time they were dressed differently. Their makeup had been wiped off, they were wearing simpler clothes, and all of their gold jewelry was gone. They walked around the city observing as the citizens went about their daily business. Eventually, they spotted three familiar faces, who all looked very similar to Joey, Tristan, and Tea.

“Teana, Jono, Jabari,” Atem said catching their attention.

“I was beginning to wonder if we would see you two today,” Teana said. “You guys disappear a lot.”

“We get busy a lot,” Nephthys replied.

“So, what’s happening today?” Atem inquired.

The friends started walking down the street.

“Excellent deflection my lord,” Nephthys said softly.

“Shut up Nephthys,” Atem replied.

The two could not help but notice that Jono had an annoyed look on his face.

“Jono are you alright?” Atem inquired. “You look quite upset about something.”

“There was a new maiden at the temple that he encountered today,” Jabari stated. “They did not get along so well.”

“Why what happened?” Nephthys asked.

“They yelled at each other,” Teana replied. “A lot, it was almost scary.”

“What was the argument about Jono?” Atem asked.

Jono just started going on a long rant that did not seem to make sense to any of the friends.

“I don’t think even he knows what it was about,” Jabari interjected.

“There is something else about her that I think you two would find interesting,” Teana stated.

“What?” Nephthys inquired.

“This woman, she’s Ioanna,” Teana said. “Her name is Maia now.”

“Are you sure it is her?” Atem asked.

“She remembered us,” Jono replied. “So yes, it’s her.”

“Does she look any different?” Nephthys asked.

“She has black hair and darker skin,” Teana said. “Other than that, she pretty much looks the same.”

“This is going to get so confusing,” Nephthys said with exasperation.

“What is?” Jono inquired.

“I mean for you guys,” she said while gesturing to Atem and Jono. “And for Priest Seto as well, you didn’t know us that well in the previous lifetime. Sure, you knew our names, but that was about it. The rest of us, we knew each other, and we were friends. So, the new name thing is going to get confusing, especially when you take into account, we’re going to die again, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even this year, but eventually, it’s going to happen. Then we’ll have a whole new batch of names, and we might look even more different. It’s just going to get so confusing with the names after a while.”

“Okay Nephthys,” Jabari said. “Are you done now?”

“Yeah,” Nephthys replied. “I think so.”

“I just realized something as well,” Jono said.

“What is it Jono?” Atem questioned.

“So, we pretty much know where everyone is in this timeline,” Jono declared. “Everyone that is, except for Demosthenes.”

“You’re right Jono,” Teana said. “I wouldn’t have even thought about that if you didn’t bring it up. All we know is that he’s still alive.”

“Nephthys,” Jono said turning to the king’s bodyguard. “Do you have any idea where he is? Last time you guys were…”

“No, I don’t know where he is Jono,” she replied bitterly, cutting Jono off.

“So, what are we going to do now?” Teana asked in an attempt to change the subject.

“I kind of want to go to the temple and see Ioanna, Maia, I mean Maia,” Nephthys said.

“Actually,” Atem said. “I think I want to go to the temple as well. Do any of you wish to come with us?”

“I’m never setting foot in that temple again!” Jono exclaimed.

Everyone just started laughing at the scene.

“Wait,” Crowe interjected. “So, you two hated each other, when did you finally get together?”

“A few years after this,” Mai replied.

The looks on everyone else’s faces was priceless.

* * *

 

The scene changed again and this time Atem and Nephthys were walking up the stone steps to the temple when they noticed someone familiar walking down the steps of the temple.

“Priest Seto,” Nephthys acknowledged.

“My prince,” Seto said to the Atem. “Nephthys.”

“How are you Priest Seto?” Atem questioned.

“I have information to share with both of you,” Priest Seto said. “Our god has spoken with me recently.”

“So that is your ability?” Atem questioned.

“Yes,” Seto replied. “Apparently my ability is that I get to hear his complaints and instructions. Lucky me. He told me that we must find what left of his ashes and dispose of them.”

“There are more ashes?” Atem questioned. “I thought all of them went down with Atlantis.”

“That is not what he told me,” Seto replied.

“Did he say where we can find them?” Nephthys inquired.

“No,” Priest Seto said. “Only that some of them are here.”

“Helpful,” Nephthys snarked. “Very helpful.”

“Once we find them you can bring them back to this temple and I will prepare them for a disposal ritual,” Seto stated. “We are going to need a safe place to properly dispose of the ashes.”

After thinking for a bit Atem spoke up. “I know of a place where we could achieve this,” Atem said. “A few years ago, while exploring the grounds of the palace, Nephthys and I discovered a tomb. It was completely abandoned though; no caskets or artifacts were inside it.”

“Oh yeah,” Nephthys recalled. “I remember that, you feel in a hole while we were exploring.”

“Thanks for sharing that,” Atem muttered.

“We would have to clean it up a bit to make sure it meets the appropriate standards of the ritual, but it should work,” Nephthys continued ignoring Atem’s comment.

“Very well,” Seto replied. “When you locate the ashes bring them back here and I will begin the preparations.”

With that said Priest Seto continued his descent down the temple steps and Atem and Nephthys continued up to them. Once they entered the temple, they noticed the woman Jabari mentioned standing not to far away.

They could feel the pull to her and feel the memories return; this woman indeed was Ioanna. They approached her and once she made eye contact with them and her face showed them that she indeed remembered them.

“Natalia, Timaeus,” she said. “Is it really you two?”

“Yes Ionna,” Nephthys said. “It is us; or I believe you are called Maia now?”

“Yes,” Maia replied. “And what are your new identities?”

“You may now call me Atem,” Atem said. “If we are in the presence of other people in the temple though, you will be safer if you call me Prince Atem.”

Maia nodded before looking at Nephthys. “And you Natalia?”

“Nephthys,” she said. “Through very interesting and unfortunate events, I now serve as Atem’s bodyguard.”

“I understand that you had an encounter with our other friends earlier today Maia?” Atem questioned.

“Yes,” Maia said. “Hermos, or Jono, I should say, said some exasperating things.”

“Yeah,” Nepthys replied. “We were with them recently; Teana and Jabari told us.”

“And what of Demosthenes?” Maia asked. “Obviously he is still alive, but do either of you have any indication as to where he could be?”

“No,” Nephthys said, sadness present in her voice. “We have not found him, and it’s just frustrating because he’s the last one whose whereabouts are unknown.”

“I can understand why that is frustrating to you Nephthys,” Maia said. “You two were close in Atlantis.”

“Please don’t bring that up,” Nephthys complained. “The whole situation is just hard.”

At that statement she turned throw her fists against the wall that was in front of her’ only with more force then she anticipated, causing a very small part of it to chip.

“Oops,” she said.

Atem and Maia could not help but laugh at this.

“I see that our god has granted you enhanced strength,” Maia said.

“Not just strength,” Nephthys declared. “Every sense and physical skill a human can have been enhanced.”

“You should have seen her when the abilities first manifested. She would constantly break things, get sensory overload, overcompensate while running and fail to stop in time…,” Atem said with a mixture of amusement and pity.

“When I first started getting visions from our God,” Maia said sympathetically. “I had headaches for weeks.”

“You receive visions from him?” Atem asked.

“Yes,” Maia declared. “They only attain to us and the others in our group though, and they only show the possible future.”

“Have you had any recently that could be useful?” Nephthys asked.

“Unfortunately, none that are clear enough to share,” Maia replied.

Then Maia walked by a column of the temple, and she looked a few years older, also standing next to her was a noticeably older version of Jono. The two of them looked at each other before sharing a kiss, one that everyone noticed left Jono blushing.

“Aaaw geeze,” Joey said scratching the back of his head and blushing at the scene that played before them.

“Come on now Joey,” Mai said looking at her boyfriend. “I think it’s cute. It’s also kinds funny, we got our act together much sooner then Yugi and Tea over there.” Which just caused the other couple to blush as well

Then everyone found themselves standing in the palace again only in front of them was Atem sitting on a throne, Nephthys was standing on his right side, a sword hanging from her left hip, and seven priests, including Seto, were surrounding him.

“Life continued to go on after that,” Carly began. “We carried on with our duties, Jono became a general in the Pharaoh’s army, Teana became a healer in the palace, and Jabari became a temple guard. The day Atem became the Pharaoh though, this was the day that everything started going wrong.”

“Why is that?” Kalin asked.

“Just watch and I’ll explain in a few moments,” Carly stated.

Everyone watched as someone they could recognize, despite the difference in his skin color, the shorter gray hair, the violet-gray eyes, and the scar underneath his right eye, approach the throne. He made eye contact with Nephthys and a shocked expression came to his face, one that she returned, before he returned his glare to the Pharaoh and his priests.

“Bakura showed up?” Crowe asked in shock.

“He did,” Carly said. “He raided the late Pharaoh, Aknamkanon’s, tomb and was brought before all of us, demanding the seven Millennium Items be given to him. The priests tried to vanquish the evil that was in his heart, but he was too corrupted. He unleashed a Diabound on them and they fought against it with their own creatures.”

“In case you were wondering, Diabound was Bakura’s Kaa, a kind of manifestation of his power. They are actually the precursor to todays Duel Monsters,” Tristan supplied.

Everyone watched as the priests struggled against Bakura’s Diabound after his monster destroyed all their monsters Atem summoned Obelisk the Tormentor. Eventually Obelisk was stopped, but Bakura’s Diabound also disappeared and Bakura retreated.

“Bakura got away?” Yusei questioned.

“He did,” Carly said. “After that episode though, I realized that I had no choice but to tell Atem the truth about Bakura.”

The priests and the Pharaoh’s adviser retired and the Pharaoh was heading back to his chambers.

“Pharaoh,” Nephthys said. “May I speak with you?”

“Of course, Nephthys,” Atem said.

“That thief,” Nephthys began. “He was the Bakura we searched for all those years ago when you found me in Kul Elna.”

“He was?” Atem questioned.

“Yes,” Nephthys said.

“I’m sorry you had to witness that,” Atem said putting his hands on her shoulders.

“I just can’t believe that he’d raid a temple,” Nephthys stated. “Let alone in be in this psychopathic state. He was never the kindest man around, but this… he would never...,” Nephthys trailed off.

“I won’t keep you from him,” Atem said. “I know you well enough to know what you’re thinking of doing. Your safety and wellbeing are still important to me, you are one of my best friends after all. Whatever you have to do, be careful, please.”

“I will,” Nephthys said. “Thank you Atem.”

Nephthys went into her rooms and began removing the black kohl around her eyes and on her arms, removed all her gold jewelry, and changed into a simpler style of dress. She exited the palace and snuck out to the stables, took a horse, and rode off in the direction of Kul Elna.

“Carly,” Yusei said looking at the young knight. “You weren’t planning on…?”

“I was, and I did,” Carly said with an exasperated huff. “I was that naïve.”

* * *

 

Nephthys dismounted her horse and made her way through Kul Elna,leading it behind her. She made her way passed all the still standing buildings and soon she found herself feet away from the all-so-familiar jug. Only this time standing right next to the jug was Bakura.

They looked at each other with the same shocked expression they shared in the palace before she ran right to him. Once she got close enough Bakura pulled Nephthys into an embrace.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” Nephthys admitted.

Bakura looked at her with a comforting expression before it turned into one of hurt.

“Why didn’t you wait for me?” He questioned.

Nephthys gave him a look of disbelief.

“I did wait for you Bakura,” she confirmed. “You didn’t come back for me though, and then those men came and were about to hurt me. If Atem did not find me I could have been as good as dead.”

“How can you stay with him though?” Bakura accused. “After all that his family has done.”

“What are you even talking about?” Nephthys continued.

“It’s because of his family that our entire village was massacred Nephthys!” Bakura exclaimed.

“What?” Nephthys said. “How do you even know that’s true; and even if it is, what does Atem have to do with that? He was just a child when all of that happened.”

“His father was a murder,” Bakura said. “And your new Pharaoh that you are defending is the spawn of a murder.”

“Stop this nonsense Bakura!” Nephthys exclaimed stepping away from him. “Do you really think you can make everything better and avenge our village by murdering Atem. You know who he is don’t you, who you and I really are. Do you really want to be the reason that we all start dying in this lifetime?”

In all her excitement then turned anger Nephthys had previously failed to notice that Bakura was carrying a large sack with him.

“What is that?” Nephthys questioned. “Did you take off with something from a tomb?”

Nephthys made a move to get around her brother and see what was in the sack. He tried to hold her back, but she was quick, when he tried to stop her again, she started hitting at him. Undeterred he continued his attempts to push her aside, but she ended up too quick for him.

“How did you become so fast and so strong?” Bakura questioned.

“A “gift” from our illustrious god,” Nephthys replied. “What is yours?”

“I believe I am pretty much indestructible,” Bakura replied.

“You have that scar,” Nephthys confirmed.

“I am still here am I not? So is my eye,” Bakura retorted. 

“You got me there,” she replied reaching into the sack.

She pulled out what looked like an urn and took the lid off of it, she was shocked at what she saw.

“The ashes,” she whispered. “Where did you get these?”

Bakura looked at her but no words came out of his mouth.

“Answer me Bakura,” she demanded. “Where did you get these ashes?”

“I stole them from a temple okay,” he replied. “I felt a pull toward them while my men and I were raiding it.”

“And you were planning on keeping these for yourself?” Nephthys inquired with anger. “They do not belong to you?”

“They do not belong to you or the Pharaoh either,” Bakura said.

“These need to be disposed of properly or we will all suffer consequences,” Nephthys declared.

“Then we can get rid of them,” Bakura offered, stepping towards her. “You and I can get rid of them and then we can make the Pharaoh pay for what he did to our village.”

Nephthys gave him a look of disbelief.

“You actually expect me to join you?” She questioned. “I won’t hurt Atem, despite what his father may have done, he is my friend. And as I said earlier, if it were not for him, I would not be standing here.”

“So, you’ll betray and abandon me Nephthys?” Bakura said.

“Don’t you accuse me of betrayal or abandonment Bakura,” Nephthys said a low tone. “You are the one who did not return for me when the morning came, you are the one who did not bother to try following, and you are the one who committed a treacherous crime. You are out to kill innocent people, and you are the one who intended to keep these ashes for yourself. If you even think I’m going to let you get away with this then you are sorely wrong.”

At that statement Bakura practically lunged at her trying to grab hold of the jar. She was able to dodge him, and for several minutes all the others saw was the two of them taking swings at each other and dodging a few of them, trying their hardest to grab and keep the urn away from each other. After a lot of effort Nephthys was able to make him fall and while he was still on the ground she ran toward her horse, the urn in her hand. As she mounted it, she looked back toward Bakura, who was still on the ground.

“I may still love you,” she declared. “But I will not stop being loyal to him.”

* * *

 

They were back in the palace and Nephthys was running down the hall with the urn in her hands. She ran right through the doors of Atem’s room.

“I feel like I had my privacy invaded that day,” Yugi declared.

“It was way too important for me to stop and knock,” Carly snarked.

“Atem!” Nephthys called approaching the Pharaoh’s bed chamber. “Atem wake up now!”

The young Pharaoh shot up in his bed to see his bodyguard standing next to it.

“Nephthys what is it?” He asked.

“You will not believe what I found,” Nephthys said handing him the urn.

Atem removed the lid and looked at what was inside. Then he looked back at Nephthys.

“Where in the name of Ra did you find these?” He questioned.

* * *

 

“The next day,” Carly said narrating the scene change. “I went to the temple to bring Seto the ashes. He told me to come back every morning so he could update me on the progress of his preparations. We had no reference points, so we were not aware of how long the preparations would take. Some mornings when I arrived, I noticed he was with a strange-looking pale skinned white-haired young woman. When that happened, I would usually spend time talking with Jabari and Maia until he approached me.”

“You never asked him who the woman with him was?” Trudge asked.

“It was none of my business,” Carly said.

“It's none of your business either,” Kaiba stated coldly to the group at large, causing any further inquiries to be dropped.

“Bakura was still making every attempt to steal the Millennium Items and destroy me,” Yugi continued. “With the aid of one of my priests, Mahaad, and his apprentice Mana, we stopped him quite a few times. That was until one day Bakura defeated Mahaad, and his soul went into his own monster, the Illusion Magician, and became what is better known today as the Dark Magician.”

“One of your priests became the Dark Magician?” Leo asked.

Yugi nodded.

“After many more attempts Bakura tried summoning the Great God Zorc,” Yugi continued. “A creature born out of the darkness and hatred in people’s hearts that held control over the shadow realm. He needed the seven Millennium Items to do so though. Again, with help from Mana this time we were able to stop him from allowing Zorc to destroy the whole word. Along the way though, we lost people who were cared for.”

Nephthys was walking into the temple to see Seto so he could give her the update on the ashes. She found him sitting by one of the altars. His knees pulled toward his chest, his head titled toward the ground, and his eyes downcast. Nephthys approached him slowly and he looked up at her.

“Kisara is gone,” he said before returning his gaze to the ground in front of him.

“I didn’t really need any further explanation,” Carly said.

Nephthys sat on the ground next to him, she did not say anything she just looked at the ground they sat on as well.

“And that is how we became friends,” Carly declared.

“Really?” Akiza asked. “All you did was sit there.”

“Yeah,” Carly said. “Not your typical way of starting a friendship. After what was probably hours of silence though he told me that the ashes would be ready for disposal soon. So, I returned to tell the others just that. When I went back a few days later though to retrieve them from Seto, I had no clue just what I was going to find.”

Nephthys was making her way toward the temple when she heard somebody calling her name. She turned to see Jono practically sprinting toward her.

“Nephthys,” Jono began. “Bakura is coming to attack the city, and he has a whole big army of wraiths with him this time.”

“Oh my Ra,” Nephthys said. “Today of all days. Jono I need to get to the temple and get those ashes from Seto.”

“Do whatever it is you have to do,” Jono said. “I need to check in with Atem and formulate a plan. I will make sure that he gets to the tomb unharmed.”

“Thank you Jono,” Nephthys said before running toward the temple.

“Be careful Nephthys,” Jono yelled out after her.

When Nephthys made it up the steps of the temples, she was greeted by the sight of death. All around her guards, and priestesses and priests laid bloody and motionless. She ran toward the main room, only to be met with the corpses of Jabari, Maia, and Seto.

Jabari has a good amount of arrows lounged into his chest and judging by his position near the door he was probably the first one to go. Maia and Seto both had blood pouring from their necks, showing just how cruelly the wraiths took their lives.  Nephthys wanted to scream at the sight of her dead friends but she knew that she still had a mission to accomplish. So, stepping over the bodies of her deceased friends, she went to the wall behind on the alters and retrieved the urn from the shelf it had been placed on. Once it was safely in her hands, she made a run for it, she had to get to the tomb.

As she made her way to it, she ran into a few wraiths, but she was able to slash right through them with her sword. When she finally reached the tomb, she saw Atem, Teana, and Jono were all there.

“I have it,” she said handing the urn to Teana. “All we need to do know is burn them.”

“The others are already dead,” Atem said. “I felt it, even if we accomplish this, we are going to we die today.”

“I think we all know that,” Jono said. “Disposing of these ashes is all that matters right now though.”

“Something similar has been mentioned a few times already. What did you mean?” Luna asked.

“You see we knew going into this that using the ashes would come at a price and it wasn’t just service to a God. Our lives would be tied together, when one of us died during a cycle the others would have to follow” Tristian said.

“When one of us died, before the day was over, we would all be dead,” Joey continued solemnly.

Suddenly the group heard some pretty familiar shrieks. Bakura’s wraith had found them.

“You and Teana stay here and get the ritual performed,” Nephthys said to Atem. “Jono and I will handle this.”

Nephthys and Jono took off as they got closer to the entrance, they saw the wraiths were making their approach.

“Jono, start making your way back,” Nephthys said.

“What are you saying?” Jono questioned. “I’m not going to abandon you here Neph…”

“If any of them manage to get through I’m going to need you to keep the rest from reaching Atem and Teana. Now go.”

Jono did what he was told and started making his way further down the tomb.

Nephthys kicked one of the strategically placed columns and it and the ceiling it was supporting collapsed and before she knew it there were piles of stone blocking the way through.

That did not make the wraiths turn back though. Many of them charged at her, while some walked by attempting to dig their way through the obstruction to keep going.

She fought with all the strength she had, and she was doing quite well, until one caught her off guard and before she could even react, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She looked down at the deep wound that had just been created only for it to be accompanied by several more as three more wraiths took the opportunity to stab her in the stomach. She fell to the ground clutching her wound. Then she heard a loud yell, and the remaining wraiths were destroyed.

“No,” she heard a familiar voice say mournfully. “No, no, no. I’m sorry, so, so sorry.”

A pair of strong arms lifted her from the floor and she was meet with the tearful eyes of Bakura.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“What did you expect?” she said weakly before coughing up blood. “Your men don’t discriminate, and you knew I would defend Atem.”

* * *

 

Meanwhile on the other side of the rubble, Jono was trying with all his might to stop the wraiths that got through from getting to Atem and Teana.

“I won’t allow it!” He yelled as he attacked the wraiths with all he had. Just like Nephthys had earlier, he felt a sudden sharp pain, accompanied by many more.

* * *

 

_Back to Bakura and Nephthys_

“I never wanted any of this to happen,” Bakura cried. “I was supposed to keep you safe.”

“You failed,” she said. “Not all your fault though, the rules of our reincarnation cycle were against you. Some of the others are already dead.”

“Please hang on Nephthys,” he begged. “I can still save you.”

“You’re too late,” she smiled sadly reaching up touch his scar. “I still love you.”

Then just like that her eyes closed and her hand dropped.

Bakura let out the most blood curdling scream and placed her back on the ground next to her fallen sword before making his way toward the obstruction she had created and going through the opening his wraiths had made. He looked to see Jono lying on the ground, his wounds were similar to the ones that Nephthys had received, but he did not care about that right now. All he wanted was revenge.

He made his way deeper into the tomb and soon he was standing in the room Atem and Teana occupied. They were just about to empty the urn into the fire.

“Pharoah!” Bakura yelled.

Teana and Atem turned to see the young thief, and he was fuming.

Atem noticed something in his eyes.

“Nephthys is dead, isn’t she?” He questioned sadly.

“It’s all your fault!” Bakura hissed. “If you had never taken her away from me.”

“Then she could have died Bakura,” Atem fired back. “You can stand here and blame me and my family all you want for past misfortunes that you had, but I did not get Nephthys killed. You did.”

“I really want to emphasize my point to Bakura this time,” Yugi said. “He knew that killing the others, killing me, would result in her death. He needed to know, or our next lives would be much more difficult.”

“You also wanted to distract him,” Joey pointed out.

“That too,” Yugi conceded.

“I am not the one who sent an army of dangerous creatures into the tomb,” Atem said. “I am not the one who believed they would discriminate and only go after one person. Your men go after anyone who is in your or their way.”

While this was going on Teana cautiously made her way toward the fire, urn still in her hands.

“I am not the reason Nephthys was killed Bakura,” Atem declared. “You are.”

Just as Atem finished that sentence Teana threw the last of the ashes into the fire. The room began to shake around them. The whole tomb must have become unstable from Nephthys’s previous stunt.

Bakura yelled again, he pulled out a knife and started running toward Atem and Teana. As he did so though, everything began shaking more intensely. Before he could even make it to Atem, the floor collapsed and the last three of the group felt themselves falling from the ledge they were on, and then, darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up is England. If you want context look up the Yu-Gi-Oh! video game Duelist of the Roses.


End file.
